Fear Itself
by TMM1205
Summary: Aaron Abbott woke up in a hospital six months ago with a stab wound to his chest and no memory of who or what he was.  With the help of his wife Alexandra, he's trying to rebuild his life in Odessa, Texas while he struggles to remember who he really is.
1. Chapter 1: Miss Perfect

Chapter One: Miss Perfect

April, 1997

Geneva Gail Grant was a typical teenaged girl in Achille, Oklahoma, a small, perfect town for the quintessential girl next door. At seventeen in her junior year of high school, she was considered one of the most popular girls in school. She was head cheerleader, star pitcher for the girl's softball team, leader of the school's gymnastics squad, a heavily medaled member of the school's cross-country track team, and an honor student. To top everything off, she had been dating the BMOC of her school, Chad Lawrence, a fellow star athlete and honor student, for the last three years. The two of them made an attractive pair at their school, he was tall and handsome with wavy light brown hair, dimples and flirty blue eyes. She was medium height and slender, with straight waist-length cherry-red hair that fell down her back in a lush curtain and sparkling hazel eyes. Everyone in their school felt that, even though they were only juniors, Neva and Chad were shoo-ins to win king and queen of the prom, an honor usually bestowed on seniors at their small school. She was well liked by all, and was known for being kind and generous to everyone.

On the outside, Geneva's life seemed perfect. She had the perfect life, a perfect face, a perfect family with her schoolteacher mother and bank president father, and the perfect boyfriend. On the inside though, Geneva began to realize that past winter, that something was terribly wrong with her. It had begun with crippling headaches that had caused her to scream in pain until her worried parents took her to every specialist in the tri-state area, only for every test to come back negative. Once the headaches ended as quickly as they'd begun, Geneva began to realize that she could immediately sense the worst fears and deepest desires of those around her. From the portly girl who sat behind her in Biology who longed to be thin and envied Geneva's slender figure, to her best friend Ashley, who was terrified of dying a virgin, to her father's underlings at the bank, who watched her with longing, wanting to do things to her that she'd only seen on cable late at night. She couldn't read their minds, their thoughts, but knew what they feared and desired all the same. Soon afterwards, Geneva noticed that when she was upset, things around her would break or shatter, and then the nightmares came. She dreamed of destruction, of causing death and mayhem to those dearest to her, dreams that caused her to wake up in the middle of the night, her heart pounding loudly as she muffled screams of terror into her pillow.

The days leading up to the prom had left Geneva on edge, worried about what would happen to her next. She was afraid to tell anyone what was happening, terrified that someone would think she was a freak, or worse, insane. The idea of being locked away scared her to the point that she never uttered a word about what was happening to her. She went about her day with her usual sunny smile on her face as she went to classes, trained for the upcoming softball season, and shopped for prom dresses with her mother, her own worst fears bottled up inside of her.

The night of the prom, she tried to relax as Chad escorted her into the beautifully decorated gymnasium, whispering playfully in her ear about the things they'd do later at the after party at his parent's vacation home on Lake Texoma, things they'd already done many times before in the back seat of his car, but would seem 'extra special' tonight. Giggling and blushing as he whispered, his hands sliding down the back of her dress as they danced, she let her guard down, forgetting the fears that had been plaguing her for the last few months and allowed herself to enjoy the dance.

Later in the bathroom, she touched up her hair and makeup with her best friend since Kindergarten, Ashley Jones. Smiling in the mirror at her reflection as she adjusted the top of her sparkling pink satin dress, she winked at Ashley. "So you and Brent Cummings look pretty close tonight. You're coming to Chad's party, right?"

Ashley glanced nervously at Geneva and nodded. "Wouldn't miss it."

Geneva's smile faded as she stared at Ashley, suddenly sensing a new fear in her best friend. She was scared of HER. "Is something wrong?"

Ashley cut her eyes at Geneva again, then looked away. "No. Nothing's wrong, Neva. Why would you think that?"

Geneva's eyes widened as she finally sensed what was leading to her best friend's fear. She grabbed Ashley's arm, her heart pounding. "Look at me." Geneva's fingers dug into her friend's arm as she shook it. "Look at me!" Ashley glanced up at Geneva, then looked away again as Geneva realized that her sense was true. "No." She whispered. "Not you. Not Chad. Tell me it's not true."

Ashley squirmed to get out of Geneva's grasp, whimpering in pain as the other girls in the bathroom stopped primping to stare at the two of them, whispering excitedly. "He said you two were breaking up after prom. He said he wanted to be single next year for senior year. Don't be mad, Neva. It was just one time. He said you've been so distant lately-"

"-You little bitch." Geneva snarled. "You were so scared of dying a virgin you decided to steal your best friend's boyfriend? I was your best FRIEND, Ashley! YOU BITCH!"

Ashley's eyes widened. "How did you know-?" She tried to pull free of Geneva again, her eyes filling with tears. "Neva stop! You're hurting me!"

"You don't know what HURT is!" Geneva began to feel it, the power that had been building up inside of her for the last four months. She tried desperately to control it, to force it back down. She closed her eyes as she gripped Ashley's arm, concentrating on stopping the power surging throughout her body.

One of the girls behind her began to scream. "Oh my GOD! Her nose!"

Geneva's eyes opened and then widened in horror as she saw the blood pouring out of Ashley's nose. "Oh my God." She whispered.

She heard more screams and looked around, seeing other girls standing around, their noses also bleeding. Her heart pounding with terror now as she looked around the bathroom, she felt the power within her slowly slipping out of her control, like water flowing through her hands.

"You bitch!" One of the girls screamed. "What are you DOING to us?"

"NOTHING!" Geneva shrieked, knowing it was a lie as she felt the power getting away from her more and more. Mirrors began to shatter, sending some of the girls screaming out of the bathroom as the faucets began to turn, then fly off of the sinks, spraying water everywhere. Geneva closed her eyes, trying to control the power within her, then heard a familiar scream. She opened her eyes to see Ashley screaming, still caught in her grip.

"MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP! GET AWAY FROM ME!" She twisted and pulled, finally breaking free of the vise-grip of Geneva's hand, her eyes, now pouring blood with her nose, widened as she looked over Geneva's shoulder. She stated screaming in terror. "GET IT AWAY FROM ME! DON'T LET IT GET ME!" Geneva watched as Ashley cowered from something unseen over her shoulder. The girl's hands slid up to her face, her fingers hooking into claws. Geneva screamed in terror as she watched her best friend: the girl she'd whispered secrets to, giggled with over boys at sleepovers, the girl she'd promised to live next door to after they grew up and let their own children be best friends; dig into her eyes with her fingers. She ripped her eyeballs out as Geneva screamed louder, her screams being joined by the girls left in the bathroom.

"What is WRONG with you?" One girl screamed. "You've been possessed by the devil!" She held a handkerchief to her nose, trying to stop the gouts of blood pouring from her nostrils.

"KILL HER! FREE HER SOUL!" Another girl screamed.

Geneva watched in horror as everyone began to advance on her. In her terror, she finally let the power go, unleashing what was building up inside of her. Doors from the bathroom stalls flew off of their hinges and flew through the air, smashing some of the girls against the wall with sickening crunches and splatters. Other girls screamed and clutched their heads moments before they exploded between their hands, other girls grabbed their chests as their hearts exploded outward, spraying the room with their blood. Their bodies were falling to the floor as Geneva ran for the door, twitching their arms and legs as their nerve endings sent out final bursts of energy in their deaths.

As she ran out of the bathroom, a hand grasped her arm, spinning her around as a fist connected with her cheek. Geneva fell to the floor as Chad walked around her, his eyes wild. "What did you DO in there? What's happening to you, you fucking bitch?" Geneva raised her head, seeing the people she'd once loved and adored, people she'd passed in the hall at that very school and considered her friends, standing around her, their eyes filled with terror and hatred. She whimpered as Chad kicked her in the ribs. "ANSWER ME!"

Geneva closed her eyes, anger, fear and hatred filling her soul as she realized they all wanted her dead, especially Chad, the cause of all of this. He'd cheated on her with her best friend, released that power within her, and caused her to kill her friends in the bathroom. _Destroy them, destroy them all. _A voice rang through her head as Chad advanced on her again, his foot pulled back to smash her ribs. She spun her head around to look at her former boyfriend, feeling the power still building, replenishing after its initial release in the bathroom. Chad began to scream, backing away as blood began to spout from his eyes and nose, his head exploding within seconds. The other students backed away from Geneva as she slowly stood up, her cherry red hair now matching the copious stains of blood on her delicate pink gown. They all began to scream as Geneva walked past them, some running before their heads and hearts exploded. As Geneva slowly walked into the gymnasium, others began to scream as well, clutching their heads and chests, others screaming and trying to get away from hallucinations of their worst fears realized. Tables and chairs flew around the room, becoming deadly projectiles, smashing the bodies of her classmates against the floor and walls as Geneva stood in the middle of the gym, her eyes closed and her arms lifted upward, letting the power pulse through her as it unleashed Hell inside the school.

* * *

"Holy Jumpin' Jesus! What in the hell happened in here?" Jimmy McCluskey, the sheriff of Achille walked into the gym three hours later, his eyes widening with shock at the horror surrounding him. Bodies of teenagers and chaperones, were scattered around the blood soaked gym, some missing heads, others smashed into oblivion against the walls and floors by tables, other people were moaning and whimpering as they lay on the floor. 

His deputy, Hugh Lewis Dewey followed behind him, his expression of horror matching Sheriff McCluskey's as they stared at the carnage. "How many dead?"

"Hell if I know." The sheriff shook his head. "EMS and the First Responders are on the way to help search this place for survivors, and the state police are coming to investigate, so don't touch or move nothing." He scanned the room again, his eyes nearly bugging out of his head. "Jesus H. Christ on a cracker."

"You think someone DID this?"

"Hell if I know. I can't imagine one person being responsible for causing carnage like this." McCluskey made a face as he stared at the bodies on the floor. "I can't even imagine a GANG being responsible for this."

Deputy Dewey listened to his radio for a moment, then turned to his boss. "Sheriff, First Responder says there's something on the football field. They saw it coming in."

Sheriff McCluskey turned and sighed. "Let's go check it out."

They walked out of the gymnasium, thankful to be away from the blood and gore as they headed towards the football field. As they reached it, they saw a red and pink blob on the fifty yard line. Clutching at the butt of his gun in the holster on his hip, the sheriff slowly walked towards it, his eyes widening as he realized it was a person, a girl. She was covered from head to toe in blood, her once pink dress now almost completely maroon. Blood and gore covered her arms and back, her hair was caked in it as she rocked back and forth, curled up into a ball on the fifty-yard line. He got closer, gasping as he recognized her. "Geneva, Honey? Is that you?"

Geneva showed no sign of hearing him as she rocked back and forth, her face buried in her knees as she sobbed and chanted in a pitiful, childish voice. "I take it back. I take it back. I take it back. I take it back. I take it back. I take it back . . . "

* * *

Denton, Oklahoma: One Week Later 

"So who are we going to be seeing here?" Claude glanced into the rearview mirror at his boss, Mr. Thompson. "Must be someone really special for you to be coming along."

Thompson beamed as he stared out of the window. "Oh, she's special. Very special indeed." He smiled at Claude and Noah Bennet as the latter drove them towards the psychiatric hospital. "A very powerful girl." He handed Claude a folder. "Check it out. Talk about a new sensation."

Claude's eyes widened as he began to flip through photos of the disaster at the gymnasium. "I read something about this, didn't I? That high school lost almost their entire junior and senior classes."

"The ones that lived are babbling idiots in straight-jackets. Most of them died either by massive strokes or heart attacks, their heads exploded, they were crushed by flying objects, or they gouged their own eyes out to give themselves lobotomies before their brains finally blew up. Beautiful, isn't it?"

Claude made a face as Noah glanced down at the photos for a moment. "You've got quite the definition of beautiful, Thompson." Claude muttered. "She did this? All of THIS? She pulled a _Carrie_ at her prom?"

"Yes she did." Thompson nodded at the folder. Claude flipped the pictures to find a photograph of a young girl. She was delicate-looking, pretty. "Looks like Mom's cherry pie, doesn't she? Little Miss All-American with a fun surprise inside."

"What does she do?" Bennet asked.

"I'm glad you asked that." Thompson smiled proudly. "It seems that Geneva Gail Grant has discovered that she is very manipulative of the psionic field. She can sense your greatest fears and desires and allow you to project them, as well as moving the objects around her using said field."

"Telekinesis." Claude muttered.

"No, better. She can blow your mind, apparently literally and figuratively, judging by the mental states of the survivors. The ones who can occasionally talk don't describe the same thing. They all talk about how the thing they feared the most came after them until they went mad. One girl saw her abusive stepfather coming at her with his pants down, another saw the room filling with snakes, another student saw rats running down the bleachers at him. This girl can make you die of terror or pleasure, unless she decides to cause you to have a stroke or heart attack using the psionic fields around her. She creates these" Thompson struggled for words "psionic bullets, for lack of a better word. She can use it to throw things around the room, obviously with crushing force. She's a marvel."

"I take it we aren't coming here to kill her." Noah sighed.

"Oh absolutely NOT!" Thompson's eyes widened. "Word from the top, Boys! This girl is not to be harmed unless we have no other choice. She's going to become our newest little pet."

"You MUST be joking!" Claude stammered. "A power like that-"

"-in the right hands, with the right guidance and control would be a beautiful thing." Thompson smiled again. "And you two are going to show her that guidance and control. You're going to become her best friends and her favorite surrogate uncles. She'll stay at Primatech, where the two of you will teach her to control that power, among other things. As you can see, she's a model of physical fitness: track, gymnastics, quite the little athlete. She's also a straight A student, therefore she's smart as hell. Make sure she continues to hone those abilities while she learns a few other physical abilities."

"What are we training her to do, exactly?" Claude's eyes narrowed.

"That's not your concern for now. Just know that she is going to become our greatest asset."

"Or our worst bloody liability." Claude sighed.

"THAT'S up to you. She lost control of her emotions at her prom and lost control of her powers. According to her doctor, who has been very cooperative with me, she's refusing to speak or allow anyone to touch her for now. You two are going to help me convince her to join us and then you're going to teach her to control herself, sort of like that house-training metaphor you like so much, Claude. Get in her head, make her trust you, then teach her to be the very best little girl she can be." Thompson stared out the window, smiling wider. "Very best."

"And if she refuses?" Noah asked.

"Then Plan B will kick in. Actually, it's kicking in whether she's on board or not. Tonight, she'll be transferred to a larger, more intensive facility that can crack her shell. A terrible accident is going to befall that transport. She can either be in the van tonight to meet her fate, or she can come with us. Either way, Geneva Gail Grant will officially be dead after tonight."

They arrived at the psychiatric hospital and made their way inside. The doctor on Thompson's payroll showed them to a locked room and let them in. Noah's heart immediately went out to the girl as he spotted her, curled up in a corner, dressed in scrubs. Her hair, washed clean of the blood, fell around her arms and back as she hugged her legs to her chest, almost like a protective red cloak. She stared off into space, blinking occasionally, her expression blank. She looked shrunken, defeated as she rocked back and forth, her arms circling her legs.

"Good afternoon, Geneva." Thompson smiled a sharky smile at her as they walked into the room. "I hear you've been a naughty little girl."

"Thompson-" Noah hissed.

Thompson lifted a hand, shushing Noah as he approached the girl. "I know what you did. I know what you can do, Geneva. You're not a freak, you're not bad, you're not evil and you're not alone." He glanced at Noah, grinning as the girl stopped rocking, her eyes widening. He turned back to her. "We can help you, Geneva. We can help you control that power that got away from you last week. That power did a bad thing, but you can make it do good things too. You are a good person, Geneva. That gift that you have isn't from the Devil, it's from God. You can use it as a gift from God."

The girl looked up at him, her hazel eyes bloodshot. "How?" She whispered.

"Come with us. This is Mr. Bennet and Mr. Raines. They know how to help you. We all know how to help you. Do you want us to help you?"

Geneva's eyes filled with tears as she nodded her head, sobbing in deep hiccupping gasps. "I killed them, I killed them all."

"I know." Thompson crooned as he gently stroked her back. With a final sob, she threw herself into Thompson's arms, hugging him tightly.

"Please help me!" She wailed.

"We will." Thompson hugged her gently as he grinned at Claude and Noah, who stared at the two of them uncomfortably. "We'll make you a better person, Geneva. You will be the greatest person in the world when we're finished with you."

* * *

May 7, 2007: Odessa, Texas 

_Her face is a map of the world is a map of the world_

_You can see she's a beautiful girl, she's a beautiful girl_

_And everything around her is a silver pool of light_

_The people who surround her feel the benefit of it_

_It makes you calm_

_She holds you captivated in her palm_

She ran along the dusty country road, reveling in the feeling of her heart leaping in her chest as her feet pounded the pavement, keeping the beat to the K. T. Tunstall song on the iPod thrumming in her ears as she ran, urging her muscles to push harder as she jogged down the road back towards her home as she reminded herself, as she did every morning, as to the identity she'd had for nearly six months.

_I am Alexandra Catherine Abbott. I am twenty-nine years old. My birthday is April seventh. My husband's name is Aaron Bradley Abbott. We met in college, the first day at Tulane University. It was love at first sight. We were college sweethearts, we lost our virginity to each other. He's the love of my life and I'm the love of his. We've been married for almost seven years, our anniversary is June eleventh. I work at Primatech Paper as a saleswoman, he is a freelance watch repairman. _

She reminded herself of these facts every morning as she ran, clearing her mind as she reminded herself why she was really here and why she had really been placed with this man.

* * *

Aaron Abbott rolled over in bed in the small farmhouse he shared with his wife Alexandra, frowning as his hands touched a cool, empty pillow beside him. He sighed as he climbed out of bed, mussing his dark brown hair as he pulled a pair of boxer shorts over his nude body. He glanced out the window, smiling as he saw the trim figure of his wife as she ran down the road by their home, approaching it. He bounded down the stairs, stopping to scratch the ears of their Pomeranian puppy Mac as he went to the kitchen to pour himself and Alexandra a cup of coffee. He closed his eyes, remembering the day he'd awakened in a hospital in New York City nearly six months ago, suffering from amnesia and a severe stab wound to his chest that had gone all the way through. He'd been told that he'd been found near the hospital, nearly dead, with no identification on his person. He couldn't remember his name or anything about his life. He still couldn't. None of that mattered so much now, it had stopped mattering after he realized that he was falling in love with his wife. 

He smiled to himself as he thought of Alexandra, the woman rarely far from his thoughts. She'd arrived at the hospital a few days after he'd awakened, sobbing with relief when she recognized him, then sobbing with heartbreak when she realized he didn't remember her. Alexandra had told him that he had been in New York for a convention and had apparently been attacked and mugged. She had documentation of their life together, a wedding license, his birth certification, photographs of the two of them together. He'd agreed to leave the hospital with her after his recovery and return with her to their home in Odessa. The first couple of months with her had been tense as he rattled around their home aimlessly willing his memory to return, finding himself more and more unhappy with his situation. Alexandra had been there for him, helping him work through his frustrations at not remembering his life. She'd been kind and patient with him, sleeping in the guest room of their home while he slept in the master bedroom, wondering when he'd ever be able to feel for his wife the way she obviously felt for him. He noticed the way she hovered and took care of him, gently allowing him to come to terms with the loss of his past life. Finally, one night, he watched her walk into their guest bedroom to go to bed and realized he wanted her, wanted to feel her body wrapped around his. He went to that room that night and made love to her, moving her back into the master bedroom after that night, where they made love frequently since. He wondered if, in his forgotten life, he'd loved her as much then as he did now, if he wanted her as desperately then as he did now, needed to feel her body against him, needed to feel himself inside of her as much as he did. He was intoxicated by her, her smile, her body, her warm hazel eyes and her fiery shoulder-length hair.

He thought about the other aspects of his life that Alexandra filled him in on. She'd told him he was a watch repairman, a fact that he realized must be true. He had an affinity for it, could hear the ticking of a watch and realize immediately whether or not it was fast or slow and by how many seconds it was so. He immersed himself in his work, building and repairing timepieces for the local antique stores, a job Alexandra told him he held before his attack. He glanced at his work table in the living room, staring at the clock he'd been working on and sighing as he remembered he'd promised it to Mabel's, the local antique store in Odessa. He'd promised it would be ready by today.

Aaron turned and smiled as he heard Alexandra's footsteps on the porch, and could SWEAR he could hear the music blaring from her iPod, then shook his head, laughing. She listened to her music so much, he could almost hear it all the time, even though she'd showed him many times that the sound settings weren't high on it. He picked up his coffee cup and hers, walking towards the front door as Mac padded behind him, panting and barking happily. He grinned as the door opened and Alexandra walked through it, covered in sweat as she breathed heavily. "How was your run?"

"Relaxing." Alexandra glanced at him as she stepped past him. "Great."

"Coffee?" Aaron held out the cup, smiling at her.

"Oh, thanks." She took it absent-mindedly as she ran up the stairs to their bedroom, scooping Mac up with her free hand to give him a quick kiss before setting him back down.

Aaron followed her, sipping his coffee as she kicked off her shoes and began to pull off her socks. "No good-morning kiss for me?" He leaned in the doorway, watching hungrily as she pulled off her tee shirt and sports bra before quickly pulling off her jogging shorts and underwear. "God, you're beautiful." He breathed.

Alexandra turned to stare at him as he stared at her, her eyes slowly sliding down his body to gauge his arousal before looking away, blushing. "I have to hit the showers Aaron, I have to work today. Matt's picking me up in an hour."

"So you'll be late." Aaron slowly walked to her and reached out, his hands gliding along her sweat dampened skin, smiling as she closed her eyes and moaned softly. He pulled her close to him, kissing her deeply as his hands cupped her breasts. He moaned with her as his hands slid further down, sliding into her. "I want you so badly."

"It has to be quick." She shuddered as his lips traveled along her neck before kissing her breasts, his fingers and mouth making her feel like she was melting.

She pulled his boxers off before wrapping her legs around his waist, whimpering with pleasure as he entered her while he carried her to their bed. He sat on the bed with her on top of him, grinding against him as quickly and as hard as she could. He cupped her face with one hand as he grasped her hip with the other. "Slow down." He whispered. "Just because it's quick, doesn't mean it has to be rough." He kissed her passionately, his other hand sliding to her other hip to guide her to move slower, waves of pleasure washing over him as she slowed down, relishing the feeling of her body against his. "I love you so much, Lexie." He whispered as she buried her face in his neck. He moved his face, his lips traveling up her neck to coax her face out of his shoulder. "Kiss me." He moaned. "Look at me." She lifted her head, staring into his eyes as they moved together. "You are so wonderful, so perfect." He moaned between kisses. "I love you so much, Baby." He noticed the sadness in her eyes as she moved against him, the sadness that he always saw whenever he made love to her. He loved her so much and knew she had to love him back, but that sadness always confused him. He pushed the confusion to the back of his mind as the pleasure intensified. He moaned louder as he kissed her, stroking her face as she sped up her movements and moved his hips to match hers. He cupped her face in his hands as they both climaxed, staring into each other's eyes. Wrapping his arms around her as their bodies stilled, he kissed her neck and shoulders, sighing happily. "God I love you so much." He breathed. "What would I do without you in my life?"

"I don't know." Her voice was muffled against his shoulder. "I don't know what I'd do without you either." Her arms tightened around him for a moment before she let him go, quickly climbing off of him. "I'm going to be late, Aaron." She kissed him quickly before half-running into the bathroom.

Aaron lay back on the bed, breathing heavily as he smiled. He could still smell her on him, her sweat, her scent. His pounding heart finally slowed before he sat up and grabbed his boxer shorts, pulling them back on. "Hell of a way to spend the morning." He smiled as he grabbed their coffee cups and bounded back down the stairs.

In the shower, the girl formerly known as Geneva Grant grabbed a washcloth as the steamy hot water beat down on her body, using the cloth to muffle the sobs that began shake her. She shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I can't do this anymore." She whispered to herself. "I can't do this."


	2. Chapter 2: Goodbye Geneva, Hello Ava

Chapter Two: Goodbye Geneva, Hello Ava

April 7, 1998

Thompson looked up from his desk as Geneva knocked on the door and walked in. He beamed at her as he pointed to a chair across from his desk. "Sit down, Honey, Happy Birthday." He studied her as she walked to the chair and sat down. In the last year, she'd been trained daily in hand-to-hand combat and jujitsu, gaining ten pounds of muscle on her petite frame as a result. Her red hair was cut into a chin-length bob and pulled back away from her face with barrettes. Thompson raised his eyebrows for a moment as she sat demurely, her hands folded in her lap, her legs crossed at the ankles. His eyes traveled up her ankles to her legs, appreciating the way her skirt barely grazed her knees. "I see the etiquette lessons are doing well also. I've also heard great things from your languages teachers, great things indeed. You're becoming fluent in French, Japanese and German, so far, with your Russian getting better as well." He leaned forward on his elbows. "You're exceeding expectations, Sweetie."

"Thank you, Sir."

"So!" Thompson opened the folder on his desk. "Are you ready for your new name? As far as the world knows, Geneva Gail Grant died almost a year ago in a terrible accident on the way to an intensive psychiatric facility."

She stared at her lap for a moment, twisting her fingers nervously. "Yes Sir."

"Please, just call me Thompson, Honey." He grinned at her as he handed her the folder. "Your new legal name is Avery Justine Reese. How does that suit you? We also changed your age. You are now officially twenty years old instead of eighteen. You can call yourself A.J., Justine, Tina, Avery, Ava, Jussy, whatever floats your sweet boat."

"Thank you Sir, I mean." She stared at the folder. "Thank you, Thompson."

"You're welcome. You've more than earned it. So what do you want to be called?"

She thought for a moment. "Ava is good. I like Ava."

"That's beautiful. It suits you." Thompson's eyes traveled over her again. "You'll continue training here for another year, then we'll place you in an apartment. Where would you like to live?"

"I hear Houston's nice, or Austin. Austin's a little closer."

"I think Austin would be better, Lubbock would be even closer though, don't you think?" Thompson cocked his head to the side as the girl nodded.

"Lubbock is good. What will I do there?"

"You won't be there much, trust me. It'll mainly be a place for you to rest your head between assignments."

The girl raised her head, staring at him. "Assignments?"

"Now Honey, what do you think we've been training you for? You've been learning to hone your natural physical abilities while adding to them with your combat training, you've been learning different languages and we've also been teaching you how to control your special power and how to use them more delicately. What would you do with all of that knowledge here in Odessa, or in Texas, even?" He winked at her. "You were born for greater things, Ava, and now it's time for you to live up to your birthright, starting tonight."

"Tonight?" She stared at him, perplexed.

"You'll be accompanying me to dinner tonight. It's a four-star restaurant, so dress appropriately. There are clothes in your closet that will fit the bill, I'm sure. Tonight, you're going to become the person you were meant to be." He looked at her. "You still WANT that, right?"

"Of course!" She nodded. "Thank you for everything."

"Bennet and Claude, they've been good to you, right?"

Thompson noticed how the girl's face finally brightened at the mention of their names. "Oh, they've been wonderful!" She nodded happily. "They're both so good to me and they've been really helpful with my training and giving me pep talks."

"Good." Thompson nodded. "I'll see you at seven tonight. I'll pick you up from your room here. You may go."

"Thank you again, Mr. Thompson."

Thompson watched her as she stood to leave, his eyes lingering again over her body as she left the room.

* * *

May 7, 2007

Aaron poured out the two cups of coffee that had cooled during his interlude with his wife Alexandra upstairs and poured himself a fresh, hot cup. He dug around in the cabinets until he found his wife's travel mug and poured coffee into that for her. As a horn honked outside, he heard his wife yelp upstairs.

"SHIT! AARON?" She called down the stairs. "THAT'S MATT! CAN YOU ASK HIM TO HANG ON A SEC?"

"NO PROBLEM, BABY!" Aaron walked to the front door and waved Matt Parkman, his wife's coworker and their neighbor, into the house. He frowned as he saw Matt make a face as he turned the car's engine off, wondering for the hundredth time why Matt always seemed so ill at ease around him. He smiled pleasantly at his Matt as he climbed the steps to the front porch. "Lexie's upstairs. She's running a little late. It's my fault, actually."

Matt nodded nervously as he stared at Aaron. "I can just wait in the car, its cool."

"NO! Not at all, come on in and have some coffee, I was just pouring a cup for Lexie to take with her to work today, it's no trouble."

Matt nodded and followed Aaron into the house, looking around at the tasteful, simple decor. "I know I've said this before, but this place always looks so nice."

"Thanks!" Aaron poured coffee into another travel mug for Matt as he looked around. "I asked Lexie once who decorated, her or me. She said it was both of us, right after we moved here."

Matt smiled. "How long have the two of you been here, again?"

Aaron shrugged. "Well, technically, I only remember being here for the last five months or so, but Lexie told me we moved here about three years ago. Apparently we lived in Bossier City, Louisiana first after we got married." He smiled. "We got married a week after we both graduated from college. We were sweethearts there."

"I remember her saying something about that."

"Speaking of marriage, how's Janice? I see her walking down the road every morning, getting her exercise. When is she due?"

Matt choked for a moment on his coffee at the mention of his wife. "She's good. She's good." He coughed softly. "She's due next month."

"That's great! That's really something." Aaron glanced at the stairs leading to the second floor of the house. "I actually asked Lexie last night when WE were planning on having kids. I've been thinking about it lately." He frowned as Matt choked on his coffee again. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry." Matt shrugged. "Drank it too fast, it went down the wrong pipe. So you and Alexandra are talking kids, huh? What did she say?"

Aaron rolled his eyes. "She talked about how she's not ready, some blah-blah about how I'm still recovering from my accident, and how we made a pact not to even discuss kids until after we turned thirty." He sighed. "I don't remember making that pact and I'd like to reopen that for discussion, but she was pretty adamant about no children right now. It's a shame. I'd love to be a father. I think I'd be great at it." He frowned again as Matt choked on his coffee. "Are you SURE you're okay?"

"I'm good! I'm good!" He glanced over his shoulder at the stairs. "So you're still not remembering anything about your life before the accident?"

Aaron shook his head. "Nope, nothing at all." He sighed. "I've been talking to Lexie about maybe seeing a hypnotist or someone else who could help me remember, but she said they're just bunk and we shouldn't waste our money." He stared at his coffee cup. "She's right, I know, but I just can't help wanting to know what our life was like before this." He leaned towards Matt. "Can you keep a secret?"

Matt nodded. "Sure! Totally!"

"Something's bothering her. She's so sad, I can see it in her eyes and, I'm not kidding about this, I swear to God I can hear her crying in the shower every morning. I can't help but think that maybe I've changed a lot or something since the accident and she misses the man that I used to be."

"Oh, I doubt THAT!" Matt looked at the floor as he sipped his coffee. "Maybe it's just hormonal or something."

"I don't think so. There's just this profound sadness in her eyes, even when we make love, ESPECIALLY when we make love. I know I barely know you, but you're actually one of the few people around here I DO actually know and I know this is none of your business."

"That's true. I probably don't need to hear about your sex life."

"Does she talk about me? Does she talk about US? Whenever I ask her if anything's bothering her, she clams up and says that she's fine, but I really don't think she is. Has she ever indicated to you if maybe she's unhappy here, or unhappy with ME?"

Matt glanced at the stairs again. "She's never indicated anything wrong. She talks about you quite a bit at work, but she's usually discussing how much she loves you and how happy she is that you're home."

"She does?" Aaron's face broke into a wide, relieved smile. "So whatever's making her unhappy doesn't have to do with me?"

"I wouldn't think so!" Matt grinned. "She seems pretty much head over heels with you."

"Thanks." Aaron reached out and patted Matt on the shoulder happily as he walked past him, not noticing the way the man flinched at his touch. "You're a good man, Matt."

"Coming from you, that means so much." Matt rolled his eyes and sipped his coffee, closing his eyes with relief as he heard Alexandra's footsteps on the stairs.

"Sorry Matt!" She rushed down the stairs out of breath, her hair pulled back into a bun as she quickly put on a pair of earrings. "I was running late this morning."

"I've already told him, it was totally and completely my fault." Aaron grabbed her travel mug off of the counter and handed it to her, kissing her softly as he did so. "Have a great day, Honey. Kick Dunder-Mifflin's ass in the paper sale division."

She gave him a lopsided grin as Matt quickly headed for the door. "That shouldn't be too hard, seeing as how they're fictional and all." She held up her coffee as she grabbed her purse. "Have a good day."

"You too." He touched her arm and kissed her again quickly as she headed for the door. "Don't let them work you too hard."

"I never do." She nodded as she rushed out of the door behind Matt and quickly headed to his car. She looked up as Aaron stood on the porch, sipping his coffee and waving goodbye to her. She waved back as Matt's car pulled out of the driveway.

A mile down the road, Matt glanced at her. "Can you PLEASE not sex your 'hubby' up in the mornings like that and run late? I get a serious case of the wiggins being around him."

"Oh please, it's NOT like I initiated it. I never initiate it. He's constantly pawing at me. And stop freaking out around him, he's harmless."

"Harmless?" Matt snorted. "Yeah, he's really harmless. That's why I spent three weeks in the damn hospital after tracking him and his victims all over the country. You've seen what he's done."

"And you've seen what I've done."

"I wouldn't call you harmless either."

"He doesn't remember anything." Alexandra shrugged.

"I know." Matt nodded. "When I asked him, that's what he said and that's what he thought." He made a face. "When he wasn't thinking about you and how much he just loooooves the way it feels when he's-"

"-drop it." Alexandra snarled. "I don't want to hear it."

"Oh, is someone cranky? I'd think that mind-blowingly hot sex with your pretend husband would help that mood a little."

"I really wish he'd have stayed happy with our original arrangement." Alexandra stared out of her window. "I liked the guest room just fine and I'm sick to death of him grabbing at me."

Matt smirked at her. "You DO realize who you're saying this to, right? I can read your mind. I know what you're really thinking, even if I didn't want to in this case. You like him and you like sleeping with him. You like it a lot, actually."

"What am I thinking NOW?" Alexandra's eyes snapped towards him.

Matt glanced at her, then turned back to the road. "I don't think my gun is going to fit there, no matter how much force you put behind it." He shrugged. "Hey, I'm not knocking you for having sex with him, or even liking it. You're stuck with him, you might as well find something about this whole warden gig to enjoy about it." He made a face. "Even if it does involve a lot of screaming and moaning and nearly fainting with pleasure; something I did NOT want to hear, trust me." He glanced at her again, his expression grim. "But you need to remember not to get emotionally involved with him, no matter what. I can read your mind and I think you're starting to cross the line where he's concerned."

"I know what the line is, I'm not going to cross it." She sighed. "I just wish they would go ahead and decide just WHAT I'm supposed to DO with him! They need to either let me go ahead and kill him or let him go, but this" she shook her head "I can't take much more of this. I'm sick of being Alexandra Abbott and having to play house with an amnesiac serial killer! He hasn't gotten his memory back, he's probably not going to, I say let me fake Alexandra's death already and let his ass GO!"

"Then go tell the boss-man that."

Alexandra glared at Matt. "GEE, why didn't I think of THAT?" She snorted. "I've been telling him and telling him for weeks that this is a stupid plan and this guy isn't going to remember shit! Besides, if they're so damn worried about him remembering, why didn't they just send our little Haitian friend into his hospital room to wipe him as soon as he turned up alive, huh?"

"You're preaching to the choir here, Lexie." Matt grinned. "Or Ava, or whatever you're calling yourself right now."

"My name is Ava, but for now just call me Alexandra as much as you can. That way, you won't fuck it up and call me the wrong thing around the chump formerly known as Sylar." She slumped in her seat. "I wasn't trained for this shit and I'm sick of being a fucking babysitter, literally!" She shook her head. "You know he's talking about having a BABY?" She laughed softly. "A baby. Do I look like someone's mommy to you?"

"Nope." Matt sighed as he drove, wishing he'd kept his mouth shut when he'd gotten into the car.

"Fine pair of parents we'd make, the super-powered amnesiac serial killer and the super-powered assassin. Thank GOD for the Pill."

They rode to work in silence the rest of the way until they reached Primatech Paper Company. Matt flinched as Alexandra slammed her car door hard before she stomped into the building. Sighing, he tried catch up with her as she stormed through the building, punching in access codes and swiping her I.D. card as she went deeper and deeper into the building. Finally, she approached a door, placing her hand on a panel as a light scanned her.

"Agent 475021, Reese, Avery. Identity confirmed." A computerized voice announced as a door slid open and quickly closed in front of Matt. He sighed and placed his hand on the panel as he was scanned. "Agent 457250, Parkman, Matthew. Identity confirmed." He walked into the area where The OWI was house, deep within the confines of Primatech Paper, and headed towards his desk, smiling and nodding at Mohinder Suresh and Niki Sanders as he passed them. He walked by Peter Petrelli, their newest member, who got his attention and flagged him over.

Peter glanced towards their boss's office. "What's up Ava's ass today? She looked pretty pissed and damn near took my head off when I said 'good morning' to her."

"What's ALWAYS up her ass?" Matt shook his head. "He's apparently too grabby with her and now he's talking babies."

Peter snorted. "Are we talking about who I think we're talking about? HE wants babies?"

Matt shook his head. "I have to agree with her. He hasn't shown the first sign of regaining his memory. It's time to figure out what to do next, and do it soon." He glanced over at her empty desk. "She's falling for him. She's denying it left and right, but I read her mind, Peter. She's falling for him hard."

Peter closed his eyes. "Not good." He looked over at the closed door of their boss's office. "She went in there to talk to him. Maybe he'll finally tell her that she can terminate him."

"She thinks he's harmless. She wants to let him go." Matt smirked.

Peter shook his head sadly. "I don't think that's going to happen."

Noah Bennet looked up from his desk as Ava flung it open and stomped into his office, slamming the door behind her. "Good morning, Avery. How are you today?"

"How the hell do you think I am?" She started pacing his office. "I can't stay there anymore Noah. I can't put up with him anymore." She stopped and looked at him. "Give me some good news here, Noah. You owe me."

"I know." Noah nodded. "I know you refused to return here six months ago to exterminate me when Thompson ordered you to and I know I owe you for that, but this isn't my call, Avery." He took off his glasses for a moment. "And I know how difficult it is for you, but until I get a call from higher-up, you have no choice but to stay the course."

"He started talking children last night, CHILDREN!" She slumped in a chair, rubbing her temples. "First he's all over me, now he's talking about wanting to be a daddy." She turned to Noah. "Can't you just send The Haitian in to wipe his memory and set him up somewhere else? He won't remember being Sylar, he won't remember being Aaron, you can give him a completely NEW identity. Then, I can go back to being Avery Reese, OWI's resident hired gun."

Noah looked sadly at her. "Just hold him off, okay? I'm trying to get you reassigned, it's taking time." He changed the subject. "How's the Mac-man?"

Ava grinned. "Good. He'd make his daddy Mr. Muggles very proud. Now HE'S the one I'll miss when I get reassigned. You are still willing to take him back when this is over with, right?"

Noah nodded. "Yep! I'll just tell Sandra that his previous owner had to move to an apartment that didn't allow dogs."

Ava looked up as a technician walked into the room to hand Noah paperwork. She noticed how he glanced at her, then did a double-take, his eyes widening for a moment before he covered a grin. She leaned forward, narrowing her eyes at him. "You must be one of those voyeurs that's assigned to watch the surveillance records of our house, right?" She cocked an eyebrow as he blushed and nodded. "Enjoying the show?" She smirked as he ducked his head down and quickly walked out of the room. "Pervert." She muttered under her breath.

"Easy, Avery." Noah's voice had a warning tone to it.

"How CAN I take it easy, huh, Noah? I can't take this anymore! I'm this close to accidentally giving him a heart attack or stroke just so he'll leave me alone." She rolled her eyes as Noah started to speak to her, pointing his finger at her. "I'm not going to do it, GOD! It would just mean having to take care of him more than I already am. It was annoying enough having to pretend that I was in love with him and fuss over him when I first brought him here."

"Are you finished venting?" Noah put his glasses back on and peered at her over the rims.

"Sir, yes Sir." Ava stood up slowly. "Just please bug the crap out of our new fearless leader, whoever he or she is and ask them to please shit or get off of the pot as far as Sylar is concerned, okay? I'm tired of acting like the loving wifey here."

"Will do." Noah picked up his pen. "Again. Some more." He muttered.

"I heard that." Ava grinned as she walked out of the office. She sat down at her desk and put her head in her hands. She looked up as Peter walked over to her and gave him a sheepish look. "Sorry for being so bitchy when I first came in. I've had a frustrating morning and I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"I don't blame you. Having to live with Sylar day in and day out, sleeping beside him, sleeping WITH him, having to pretend that you're lovey-dovey with him, it's got to take a toll." He leaned against her desk, watching her expression as he talked. "I don't understand why Bennet, of all people is so willing to make you stay there, especially considering everything Sylar's done to his family."

"I know." Ava sat up and started digging through her desk. "You'd think he of all people would be more than willing to step on a few toes and either let me blow that guy's mind one way or let The Haitian do it the other way." She grinned as she found a bag of potato chips hidden in the back of her desk. "YES! Jalapeño cheddar goodness." She started to open the bag, looking up at Peter. "Want some?"

"It's ten a.m."

"And?" She opened the bag and looked in it, realizing it was completely empty. "God DAMN it!" She looked around the office. "CANDICE!"

Peter smirked as he saw Candice quickly skulk out of the office before the other woman could spot her. He turned back to Ava. "So I hear he's talking about wanting to knock you up."

Ava rolled her eyes. "DAMN that blabbermouth Parkman! What's he going to tell you next?"

Peter shrugged. "Just that Sylar was asking advice about what to do to make you happier. He knows something's up, Ave. He sees it in your eyes and he can hear you crying in the bathroom when you take a shower."

Ava looked away, frowning. "I'm not crying."

"It's frustrating, I know. It's also got to be taking a toll. You're lying in bed with a man that you know you shouldn't feel anything for, that you can't feel anything for. You know you may have to end up killing him, but he seems innocent. He can't remember who he is or the terrible things he's done, which makes him innocent, as far as he knows. He also tells you he loves you, and he probably does. It's got to be hard not to want to love him back and forget who and what he really was and what he could easily become again if he regains his memory. He treats you lovingly, he tells you he loves you, he shows you he loves you, what's wrong with wanting to love someone like that back? You're only human Ava."

Ava continued to avoid Peter's eyes. "I can't feel for him. I can't love him back. It's my job. He's a job, nothing more."

Peter sighed. "Ava, I'm reading your mind, okay? I know what's running through it because I've just repeated it to you." He leaned close to her. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to love 'Aaron', Ava but you have to ask yourself, can you still love him if he returned to being Sylar?" He looked at her, a sad but kind expression on his face as hers began to crumple. "If that happened, if the worst case scenario came true, can you put your feelings for 'Aaron' aside and destroy Sylar before he destroys you?"

"Yes." She whispered, her voice strangled as she took deep breaths to keep from crying. She finally looked into Peter's eyes, her hazel green meeting his golden brown. "If 'Aaron' went away and Sylar came back, I could kill him dead in a heartbeat, because if that ever happened, the man I've slept with and yes, have started to fall for, would be dead, another one of Sylar's victims."

Peter raised an eyebrow and nodded. "Just remember that. You're not just there to baby sit a serial killer, you're there to protect the man you want to love from being killed by himself. Remember that, and I think you'll be okay." He leaned over and quickly kissed the top of her head. "Take care, Ava."

Ava nodded as she tossed the empty potato chip bag in the trash. She looked up as Niki got her attention. "Your 'husband' is on line one, Ava."

She took a deep breath and picked up the phone, hitting the button for line one. "Good morning, Primatech Paper Sales Division, this is Alexandra Abbott, how may I help you?"

"Hey Baby!" She closed her eyes as she heard Aaron's voice on the other end. "I was thinking about chicken parmigiana for dinner, how does that sound?"

"Great." She tried to smile to get her voice to sound more cheerful. "That sounds great, Honey."

"Good. You'll be home around six, right? No stopping off at a bar tonight for happy hour with the coworkers?"

"I'll be home around six. I'll see you then."

"Okay. I love you, Lexie."

Ava closed her eyes, fighting tears. "I love you too, Aaron." She quickly hung up the phone and took a deep breath, steadying her emotions as she felt her coworkers' eyes on her. She sat up and looked around at everyone defiantly. "WHAT?" She asked with steel in her voice. Everyone quickly looked away, shuffling papers as they tried not to meet her eyes.

* * *

April 7, 1998

"Now THAT is a beautiful dress, Ava!" Thompson leered at her as she stepped out of her room, dressed in a long red dress with a plunging neckline.

Ava fiddled with the neckline, making a face. "I don't know about this. It's kind of-"

"-It's beautiful. I picked it out for you, you know." Thompson took her arm and led her out of the building. "Stop fidgeting with it." He drove them to a restaurant situated in a hotel, smiling at her and making small talk the whole way.

In the restaurant, after they'd eaten and he'd paid the check, Thompson leaned forward on his elbows. "Ready for your first assignment?"

"Here?" Ava looked around nervously. "What do I have to do?"

Thompson cocked his head at a table near theirs. "To your right, two tables over, there's a man sitting there, mid forties, portly, bald. See him?"

Ava glanced over to her right and spotted the man, nodding. "What do I do?"

Thompson smiled. "You're going to give him a massive stroke, right here, right now. Don't make him see anything, just send out one of those little psionic bullets you do so well and rupture his brain." His smile faltered as Ava gasped and shook her head, tears springing into her eyes. "Ava, listen to me" he hissed "this isn't a bad thing you're doing. This isn't like what happened at your prom. You've learned to control your power, to use it wisely. Do you trust me? DO YOU?"

Ava stared at the tablecloth. "I trust you."

"What did I tell you when we first met, Sweetie? What did I tell you about your power?"

"You said it was a gift from God." She whispered.

"That's right." He purred. "It's a gift from God. That man over there, he does very bad things to little girls. Have you ever heard of child pornography?" Ava looked up at him, her tearful eyes widening. "He's the kingpin of child porn in Texas. He's also suspected of running a prostitution ring. Guess what kind of prostitutes he uses? Little girls, Ava. Someone like that shouldn't be allowed to live, don't you think so?" Her bottom lip quivering, Ava nodded slightly. "Good girl. Kill him, Ava. Make him stop hurting little girls." He reached out, gently taking Ava's hand, his thumb massaging the inside of her wrist. "Do it for me, Honey." He smiled as Ava took a deep breath and concentrated. The man he'd pointed out to her suddenly sat up straight, his mouth filled with food. He began to gag as his nose began to pour blood from it. With a strangled cry, he suddenly slumped forward, his face buried in his plate as his dinner companion began to scream. Thompson looked at Ava, realizing she was about to start crying openly. He stood up and took her arm, ushering her out of the restaurant and into the hotel lobby. He quickly steered her towards the elevators and pushed her into one.

As the doors closed, Ava turned to him, crying. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Thompson grimaced and pulled her into his arms, shushing her. "It's okay Honey. It's always hard your first time, I know." He stroked her hair as she sobbed in his arms, his grimace turning into a grin as her sobs began to abate. He took her face in his hands, wiping tears away. "Everything's going to be okay, you'll see." He led her out of the elevator onto a floor and ushered her into a hotel room.

She looked around, confused. "Why are we here?"

Thompson shrugged. "I knew you'd be upset after what you had to do. I didn't want anyone to get suspicious, so I booked this room for you to calm down and freshen up in before we left." He stepped towards her, pulling her into his arms again. "Everything's going to be okay, Ava." He cradled her face in his hands again, kissing her cheeks first, then her lips. She struggled against him, trying to pull away as she protested. Still clutching her face in his hands, he lifted his head from hers for a moment. "Don't fight me on this. You like me. I like you. Don't fight me on this, don't ever say 'no' to me, Honey." He bent down and kissed her again, pushing her towards the bed as she stopped fighting and lay down, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks again as he loomed over her. "I've been waiting all year for you to turn eighteen." He loosened his tie as he leaned down, kissing her again as he unzipped her dress.

* * *

May 1, 2007

"You okay?"

Ava glanced over at Matt as he drove her home. She nodded and turned her attention to the window again, watching the streets roll by. "I'm fine. Thanks a lot for blabbing everything to Peter, by the way."

"He's a good guy and he's an empathetic ear, he kind of has to be, given his power. I thought if anyone would be able to reach you or help you, he would. Did he? Did he help you?"

Ava shrugged. "Until I get reassigned, no one's really going to be able to help me."

Matt glanced at her sadly, then concentrated on the drive to her house, shaking his head.

Aaron smiled as he heard Matt's car pull up. He watched from a window as Alexandra got out of the car and climbed the steps to the porch and entered the house. He beamed at her as she walked in. "Good evening, Baby!" He pulled her into a hug, kissing her cheek. "How was your day?"

"Same old, same old." She squeezed him tightly, closing her eyes as she reminded herself about her talk with Peter. _It's okay to love him, just remember who he really is and what you'll have to do if HE remembers. If Sylar comes back, he'll be killing this man in your arms, the man you're falling in love with. Love 'Aaron', hate Sylar. Keep Sylar at bay, Girl._ She let Aaron go, smiling at him. "How was YOUR day?"

"Great!" He wrapped an arm around her waist, smiling as she rested her head on his shoulder. "I finished that clock today and took it down to Mabel's. I got a VERY good price on it."

Alexandra raised an eyebrow. "HOW good?"

"This good." Aaron pulled her close and began to kiss her passionately. "Good enough that I think we can let dinner wait, and possibly ruin if we have to."

"That good, huh?" Alexandra kissed him back as her hands reached for the button of his jeans. "That's very good, indeed." She looked into his eyes, smiling. "I love you, Aaron."

Aaron's eyes widened. "It's been so long since you told me that, Lexie." He kissed her. "I love you too."

* * *

April 7, 1998

Ava lay in the bed of the hotel, the sheets wrapped around her nude body as she slept, curled up in the fetal position, as far away from Thompson as she could. Thompson lay on his back, his arms behind his head as he stared at the ceiling, grinning from ear to ear. He looked over at her again, sighing as he climbed out of bed and grabbed his cell phone. He walked to the bathroom and dialed the phone. "Mr. Linderman, it's Thompson. It's done. Yeah, she took care of him with a quickness, you now have one less competitor for that casino you wanted next door to the Corinthian." He nodded. "No, thank YOU Sir. She's just fine. I got her home and safely tucked back into bed before her curfew. Goodnight Sir." He hung up the phone and stared at himself in the mirror, winking at his reflection before he went back into the bedroom and climbed back into bed. Glancing at Ava, he rolled over beside her, touching her shoulder. "Roll over, I'm ready for more." He whispered.


	3. Chapter 3: Memories

Chapter Three: Memories

May 7, 2007

"Tell me again about the day we first met."

Alexandra murmured sleepily as Aaron cuddled against her, kissing her shoulder as his hands massaged her naked body. "Again? Baby, I'm tired. You've worn me out."

Aaron laughed softly as he pressed against her. "Really? I was ready for another round. Tell me, please."

Alexandra sighed. "We were both starting out freshman year at Tulane. My roommate was Miriam Brooks, her twin brother Martin was your roommate. Martin unpacked everything as quickly as he could and convinced you to come with him to our dorm room to help Miriam unpack. I was carrying an armload of boxes and I ran into you when I walked into my dorm. A box of books landed on your head. You laughed at me as I grabbed an ice pack and made you sit on my bed. You said you'd always heard of being struck by the written word, it had just never happened to you literally before. I offered to take you for coffee to make it up to you, and you said you wouldn't hear of it. You said that someone as beautiful as I was shouldn't ever have to take a man out, it should always be the other way around. We went to the movies that night-"

"-What did we see?"

"We saw 'A Time to Kill' because you had a thing for Sandra Bullock, I was developing a thing for Matthew McConaghey and we both thought Samuel L. Jackson was truly the shit. We talked about the movie all through dinner and on the walk home afterwards. You walked me to my dorm and we stood outside of my room together, trying to make small talk."

"Because I was scared to kiss you." He nibbled on her earlobe. "Thank God I got over that."

"I know." Alexandra sighed. "And I was scared to make the first move. You kissed me on the cheek and started to walk away, then finally said 'Oh, to hell with it!' and turned around to me."

"And that's when I first kissed you."

"And we've been together ever since."

Aaron smiled as he let his hands roam over his wife's body. "Tell me about the first time we made love. I like that story."

Alexandra turned in his arms. "Which time? The time we really first made love, or the time you first remember making love?"

Aaron laughed softly as he placed his hand on her thigh, draping it over his as he began to kiss her passionately. "Actually, I'd rather build on my memories, now that I think about it." He smiled as he let his hand slide up her thigh, feeling her shudder with pleasure. "I can't get enough of you." He whispered.

"So I've noticed." Alexandra kissed him as he rolled over on top of her. "Good thing though, I can't get enough of you either."

* * *

April 8, 1998

"Does Geneva seem a bit off to you, today?"

Noah Bennet glanced over at Claude, shaking his head. "You know that's not her name anymore, just like 'Claude Raines' isn't your real name."

"Sorry." Claude rolled his eyes sarcastically. "So anyway. Does AVERY seem a bit off to you today?"

"Define 'off'."

"You know what I mean. She's usually laughing and joking with us. Today she seems a bit withdrawn, out of sorts. You've noticed that, right?"

"She's a teenaged girl, they have mood swings." Noah shrugged.

"Fine father you're going to make." Claude shook his head. "Just wait until that little one in your house becomes a teenager, then you'll have no choice but to notice when they seem off. Mood swings my ass! Something's bothering that girl, something big."

"Then go ask her about it."

"I tried! She looked like she was going to burst into tears and then ran off!"

Noah finally put down the paperwork he was reading. "I know what's wrong with her, okay? Thompson told me about it this morning. She had her first assignment last night." He frowned. "She had to cause a man to have a stroke, apparently someone who was a pedophile and child pornographer."

"Bloody hell." Claude leaned against his desk. "Poor kid. I know that what she did was good, actually, but it still had to be hard on her, doing something like that."

* * *

In his office, Thompson shuddered and collapsed on top of Ava, panting hard. "Now that's what I call a lunch hour." He smiled as he stood up, pulling up his pants. Ava sat up and climbed off of his desk, her face a mask of revulsion as she buttoned her shirt and pulled her skirt back down. Thompson looked up, smiling as he rearranged his desk. "Don't look so glum, you'll enjoy it after a while, I promise you. I've been told that I'm very good and you need an education in everything." He winked at her and held out her panties. "Don't forget these." Ava snatched them out of his hand, shivering with disgust. "Now, let's discuss your next assignment."

Ava sat in a chair, glaring hatefully at Thompson. "So I wasn't just sent in here to get you off?"

"No, that was just the bonus." Thompson smirked as he opened a folder. "You're going with me to Las Vegas. You're going to meet the big man himself, Mr. Linderman."

"Who's that?" Ava looked away, refusing to meet Thompson's eyes.

"He's the man who truly runs everything, and I DO mean EVERYTHING!" He leaned forward on his desk templing his fingers under his chin. "Claude and Noah have no idea he's the person who provides the cash for their paychecks and YOU aren't going to tell them, are you?" His eyes narrowed as Ava continued to look away. "LOOK AT ME!" He smiled as Ava finally turned to glare at him. "Get used to keeping secrets, little girl, that's your whole life now. You're not going to tell Noah and Claude anything about Mr. Linderman and you're also going to keep your mouth shut about last night and what just happened in here."

"What if I DO tell them? What are you going to do, kill me?"

"No." Thompson laughed softly. "I'll kill THEM." He nodded as Ava's eyes widened and began to fill with tears. "Your two best friends out there, the men who are like your big brothers? They'll die if you open your mouth and breathe one word to them about this, any of this. You're also going to keep your mouth shut about our relationship to Mr. Linderman. He looks down on people dipping their pens in the company ink, so to speak. If you talk to him, I'll place a call to kill your pals in there and then I'll kill you before Linderman tries to retaliate against me. You're screwed, kiddo."

"Literally and figuratively." She muttered.

"Right." Thompson studied her. "So get used to it and start acting like you enjoy it, even if you're just faking. Anyway, tomorrow, we're going to Las Vegas where you'll show Mr. Linderman your special powers. How does that sound?"

"Great." She looked away again.

"Good." Thompson closed the folder. "That's all for now. Come back around six. I think I'll need something before I have to go home to the wife."

Ava glared hatefully at him again as she stood. "You realize you make me want to puke every time you come near me, right?"

Thompson's smile faded just a little. "Just for that, I think I'll need you to stay in here and take care of me more than once before I go home. You WILL learn to like what we do in here, Ava, or at least learn to pretend you do."

Ava closed her eyes as she walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. "Bastard." She muttered under her breath. "If I didn't think I'd end up terminated, I'd blow your brains with my mind right now." She walked back to her room and pulled off her clothes, tossing them aside as she stepped into the shower and started scrubbing herself until her skin was almost raw.

* * *

May 8, 2007

He moaned in his sleep, jerking and thrashing as he dreamt. He dreamed of bullets flying towards him and stopping them with his hand before sending them back to his shooter (Matt? Lexie's coworker? How could it be?) with the flick of his fingers. The scene dissolved in front of him to find himself standing in an art studio, a man lay at his feet, impaled by paint brushes. He stood over him, pointing a finger at him. "This is usually the part when people start screaming." He said as the man's head began to bleed.

"NO!" Aaron woke up, breathing hard as he clutched the sheets.

Alexandra sat up and turned on a light before turning to him. "Aaron? Are you okay?"

Aaron looked around the room, realizing he was in his home in Texas. "Yeah." He gasped for air. "I'm okay. It was just a bad dream, that's all."

Alexandra stared at him, concerned. "What did you dream about?"

Aaron shook his head. "I don't remember." He lay back down, his heart pounding. "I'm trying to think about it now, but I don't remember the dream."

"Okay." Alexandra lay beside him, her hand on his chest. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure." Aaron snapped at her. "I just want to go back to sleep."

"Fine, you don't have to bite my head off about it!" Alexandra rolled over, turning her back to him.

"Lexie, I'm sorry." Aaron rolled over, spooning against her. "I don't know why I just acted like that. I don't know what got into me." He nuzzled her neck. "Want to help me have sweeter dreams?"

"Why? Screwing you to sleep earlier didn't help!" She shook him off as she climbed out of bed. Aaron sat up and watched as she put on a robe.

"Where are you going?"

"The guest room!" She turned around, glaring at him. "Sweet fucking dreams, asshole!" Aaron lay back against the pillows as she stomped out of the room with Mac behind her, slamming the door in their wake.

"Shit." He muttered under his breath.

* * *

He woke up that morning when he heard her come back into the bedroom. He sat up, watching as she pulled off her robe and grabbed running clothes out of the dresser. "Can I please apologize?"

"I'm still pissed, so no."

"Look," Aaron took a deep breath "I know I was an ass, when you were just trying to comfort me after a nightmare, but you didn't have to be such a bitch about it!"

"No, YOU look!" Alexandra turned around as she pulled her sports bra on over her head. "NO ONE snaps at me the way you did last night, do you hear me? NO ONE! And what's with you CONSTANTLY putting your hands all over me? Sometimes I just want to sleep, okay? I don't have to have it twenty-four seven like you do. You're like a nymphomaniac or something."

"Actually, nymphomaniacs are women, for men it's called satyriasis."

"Whatever, would you mind not pawing me every chance you fucking get?" Alexandra rolled her eyes as she grabbed her running shoes.

"What is WITH you?" Aaron shook his head. "I'm serious, here! One minute, you're telling me you love me, the next minute you're pushing me away and withdrawing, then you're telling me you love me and can't get enough of me, and then you're stomping out of the room to sleep in the guest room. I can't WIN with you, Lexie! What is WRONG?"

"Nothing." Alexandra started to leave, glaring as Aaron grabbed her arm. "And there you go, touching me again."

Aaron snatched his hand away, his eyes filling with tears. "Lexie, something's wrong. Please tell me what's going on with you. I want to help, I want to understand, please."

Alexandra shook her head. "Nothing's wrong, I just overreacted, that's all." She stared at the floor. "I'm going for a run. I'll be back soon."

Aaron started to speak again, then shook his head and turned away as Alexandra headed for the door. He stared down at Mac as the little Pomeranian waddled into the room. "I bet you'd tell me what was wrong, huh?" He smiled sadly as the dog sat up in his hind legs and barked at him. "Yeah, yeah. Let's make you some breakfast."

* * *

Alexandra mind raced as her feet pounded the pavement. _What did he dream? Why did he snap at me like that? He just changed, on a dime. One minute he was Aaron, the next minute, I didn't recognize him, then he was Aaron again. What in the hell did he dream? Is he becoming Sylar again? _She shook her head, trying desperately to push the thoughts away, to run away from them. If he became Sylar again, she knew what she'd have to do to him and she didn't want to think about it. She groaned as she saw a car pull over to the curb ahead of her and watched as Noah Bennet stepped out of it. He waved to her, waiting as she ran over to him and leaned over to catch her breath. "What do you want?" She snapped.

"I got a call from our audio visual techs early this morning. I understand you and Aaron had a fight? A fight that continued until just a few minutes ago when you came out here to run?"

"Yeah, we had a fight." Alexandra looked away, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "He's remembering, I know it."

"Do you have proof?"

Alexandra glared at him. "Besides my gut feeling? No, I don't have proof! What do you want? You want him to rip someone's skull open first?"

Noah sighed. "We can't just terminate him on your gut feeling, Avery. You know this. We have to have actual proof. What happened last night?"

"He had a nightmare." She paced the road beside his car. "It was a bad one. He was thrashing around yelling 'no'. When he woke up, he was different for a moment."

"Different how?"

"When I looked into his eyes, for a split second I didn't see 'Aaron', okay? I saw something else, SOMEONE else. I saw someone sinister and dark. That's when he snapped at me and I got scared. He changed back right away, started acting like the man I've been living with again, but" she shook her head "what I saw in that split second freaked me out. I realized that I was lying in bed with a stranger and I didn't like it, Noah. I didn't like that one bit, so I went to the guest room to sleep."

"And this morning?"

"He's 'Aaron' again." She shrugged. "He wanted to apologize, wanted to talk things out, and I freaked out on him."

"I got the transcripts of the conversation sent to me over my PDA while I was coming here. I'd say you definitely freaked out on him. Avery look, I know this is difficult for you-"

"-DIFFICULT?" She laughed "Try impossible. This is London all over again, Noah!"

"I know-"

"-You promised me, you PROMISED me after London that I wouldn't have to do an assignment like this again! You, Thompson, LINDERMAN! You all fucking promised me that any assignments I had after that would be quick. I go in, I take out the target, I haul ass! I can't do here what I did in London, Noah. I can't take it again."

Noah slumped against his car. "I remember, Avery. I remember promising you that. This is important, though."

"I don't care!" Her voice broke as she leaned against the trunk of the car, burying her face in her arms as she started to cry. "I can't do this anymore, Noah." She lifted her head to glare at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I can't sell my soul and my heart again, not even for you. Not even for everything you've done for me."

"Avery-"

She sniffled and held up her hand. Noah noticed how it shook. "-You have one week. Get with whoever is in charge of this bullshit, tell them that I've given you and them ONE WEEK! At the end of that week, either you send The Haitian in there to totally hollow him out, or I'm walking AFTER I've taken him out! This isn't a request, it's an order."

"Fine." Noah stared at the ground for a moment, his expression filled with guilt. "Can you play nice with 'Aaron' for another week?"

"With an end in sight?" She smiled sadly. "I'll give him the best week of his life. By the way, I'm taking the day off to 'play nice' with my husband."

She turned and started running again, heading down the road back towards her house as Noah watched her sadly. He pulled out his phone and dialed it. "Kaito, it's Noah. We need to have a meeting regarding Agent Reese and her assignment. She needs to know now just WHY we're keeping Sylar alive. She needs to know everything."

* * *

Sitting in the living room, he heard her footsteps on the porch and heard the door open. He stood as she walked into the living room and nodded to her, not meeting her eye as he tried to step past her. "Aaron, wait." She reached out and touched his arm.

"And now you're touching me." He looked into her eyes for a moment, then looked away. "Be careful, you might turn me into a sex-crazed lunatic just by touching me."

"You wanted to apologize this morning and I wouldn't let you." Alexandra looked at him as he stared at the floor. "You're not the one who should be apologizing here, I am. I was worried about you last night and I was clingy and then I lost my temper for no good reason. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I left our bed last night, I'm sorry about snapping at you this morning and I'm sorry for ever making you feel like-"

"-Like shit?" Aaron looked up finally, his eyes meeting hers. "Like I repel you in some way just by wanting to be near you?"

Alexandra nodded. "I lied to you about something, okay? When we first-" She closed her eyes "I wasn't a virgin when we first got together, but I wanted to be. I was your first lover and I wanted so much to be yours, and I would have been if-" She shook her head.

"-Why would you lie about something like that?"

"Because I was ashamed." Alexandra stepped past him into the living room. "When I was a teenager, there was a man I trusted, an older man. He was a friend of the family, a friend of my dad's. He seduced me and used me. I hated the idea of him ever touching me and the idea of him even coming near me made my skin crawl, but I let him anyway and I'm ashamed to even admit that I let him-" She closed her eyes feeling the tears start. _Hell girl, if you've got to tell him something, at least this is something that's actually close to the truth. _She turned to Aaron. "-He told me that if I told my parents, that he'd hurt them and that no one would believe me anyway."

"Oh Honey." Aaron stepped towards her, then stepped back, putting his arms behind his back. "That explains a lot. It explains why you get bothered when I touch you and why you seem so sad with me."

Alexandra nodded. "It went on for a long time. It finally ended when I went to Tulane and met you. I never went home again after that. I told you that my parents and I had a falling out when I went to Tulane, but I never told you why. We fell out because I refused to return home where HE was. I was scared that if I went back, he'd try to start things up again and hurt me or my parents if I refused him."

Aaron nodded, his brow furrowing angrily. "So that man abused you, molested you, and made YOU feel guilty about it? That son of a bitch! Where is he? What's his name?"

"He's dead. He died a few years ago. I kept tabs on him, kept a watch out online for news about him. I celebrated the day I found out that he died."

"Good." Aaron nodded. "I'm glad he's dead. If he weren't, I'd kill him myself." He stepped towards her again, then stepped back once more. "Bastard."

"That's why I get weird around you sometimes. That's why I got worried last night when you snapped at me and then did that 180 and started touching me and wanting me again. He used to do that. He'd hit me or yell at me one minute, then he'd be forcing himself on me the next." She stepped towards her husband, reaching out to touch his shoulders. "So don't apologize to me, this was my bad, my baggage. I pushed it away for so long, tried to forget what happened, but I couldn't and I freaked out and took it out on the wrong person, you. I love you, Aaron. I love your hands, I love your body, I love your mind, I love the way you look at me, I love the way you love me, I love the way you make me feel and I don't want to EVER make you feel the way I made you feel this morning ever again." She started to cry. "You are, without a doubt, the best thing that has ever happened to me and I'm so sorry I tried to push you away."

"Oh Baby." Aaron pulled her into his arms, kissing her cheek. "Why didn't you ever tell me any of this before, huh? You can't keep something like that from me. I'm your husband."

"I know. I was just so ashamed of everything. I was ashamed that I let it happen and that I let it continue and now I'm ashamed that I almost let it mess up what we had."

"Don't you EVER feel ashamed of that. He took advantage of you. He used you." Aaron looked into her eyes. "What happened to you wasn't your fault."

Alexandra smiled softly. "Say it again."

"It wasn't your fault, Baby."

"Once more?"

Aaron kissed her in between each word. "It. Wasn't. Your. Fault."

Alexandra nodded. "I want to make love to you."

"You have to work." Aaron smiled teasingly.

"I'll call in sick." With an arm still wrapped around him, she grabbed her cell phone from the coffee table and dialed it. "Matt, Alexandra. I'm sick. Give my regrets." She hung up and smiled at him. "I'm all yours, all day."

"I'm all yours too." Aaron winked at her. "Do what you want to me."

"Oh, the possibilities." Alexandra giggled as she playfully pushed Aaron onto the couch, before pulling off her tee shirt and sports bra and tackling him.

* * *

Late that evening, Noah paced in his office, waiting. He looked up as Kaito Nakamura entered the room, followed by Angela Petrelli. Kaito frowned as he took a seat, Angela sitting beside him. "What's going on with Reese and Gray?"

* * *

They lay together on the floor in the living room, a throw blanket tossed over them. Alexandra smiled softly as she slept, Aaron wrapped around her, his mouth against the back of her neck, his lips curled up into a contented smile. His smile began to fade into a frown as he began to dream. Once again, he dreamed of throwing bullets back at a man who was shooting at him, a man who looked like his wife's co-worker Matt. He dreamed of the man impaled on the floor of his art studio, screaming as blood poured from his head.

"That's important to you, isn't it? Being special?" He heard a man's voice talking to him as he stood in a cell, a shunt sticking out of the back of his skull.

"It's important to everyone." He told the man who was speaking to him, a man with horn-rimmed glasses, watching him behind glass.

He saw a woman falling forward, scissors sticking out of her chest.

"That's enough!" The man's voice rang through his head.

He saw a blond in a cheerleading uniform pinned to a row of lockers, blood pouring down her head as she cried out.

"I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH GABRIEL!" The man's voice yelled at him.

He saw a petite red-haired woman fall to the floor, blood pouring from her forehead as he knelt over her, his mouth watering.

"MY NAME IS SYLAR!"

Sylar woke up with a start, his mind racing as he looked around the room, trying to get his bearings. He tried to control his breathing to keep from waking his wife.

His eyes widened. WIFE? He stared down at Alexandra as she slept beside him. He smiled softly as he studied her. Wife indeed. He got up and began to walk around the room, almost as if he were seeing it for the first time. He smiled to himself. _Aaron Abbott, huh? With a wife who happens to work at Primatech. Good one. _He turned back to watch as Alexandra slept on the floor. She shivered for a moment, pulling the blanket around her. _And why would they put me with her? What do they want from me? Would they put me with someone normal or-_ He grinned as he turned to look at her again. _Would they put me with someone who they think could take me on in a fight if I remembered? What do they want with me? _He paced the room, staring at how meticulously they'd decorated, to make it seem lived-in, like a couple who had been married for seven years had lived here. _They could have let me die in that hospital, why didn't they? Why have they gone to all of this trouble?_ He picked up a picture from an end table, a picture of them supposedly on their wedding day. She was dressed in a simple white gown, no veil and he was in a tuxedo. Both of them were barefoot on a beach. He laughed to himself, remembering how she'd told him about their wedding in Hawaii, a week after they'd graduated from college. Whoever had doctored that picture had done a good job.

"Aaron?" He turned to see Alexandra sitting up, watching him. "What's up? Did you have another bad dream?"

He remembered how he acted as Aaron and smiled gently at her. "I didn't want to wake you."

"What did you dream about?"

He laughed softly as he walked back to her. "Oh who knows? You know how nightmares are, you forget them as soon as you wake up." He held out his hand. "I think I was also getting a little stiff sleeping on the floor. I'm not that eighteen year old kid you fell in love with anymore, remember?"

She smiled up at him. "Neither of us are." She took his hand and stood up, letting the blanket fall to the floor. "Want to go to bed?"

He stared down at her naked body, his eyes roaming over every inch and curve of her. _I can play along for now, have a good time while I'm at it, and she IS a good time. _"I definitely want to go to bed."

She grinned. "I don't think sleeping on the floor is the only thing that's made you stiff."

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "No, it's not." He pulled her close, his heart pounding as he felt his body pressing against hers. "Are you ready for more?"

"Always." She kissed him passionately as he picked her up and carried her up the stairs.

He kissed her back, letting the feelings he'd had for her as 'Aaron' return, pushing away the anger that the last six months had been a lie. As he placed her on the bed and slid on top of her, moaning softly as he felt her legs wrap around his waist, he smiled at her. _'Aaron may have loved you, whoever you are, but Sylar is going to use you, enjoy you and toss your ass away when he's done._He kissed her as they began to move together, feeling her nails dig into his back. _At least they had the sense to put me with someone good. Life is definitely good right now. _He moaned softly. _And it's only going to get better. _


	4. Chapter 4: KnockDown, DragOut

Chapter Four: Knock-Down, Drag-Out

April 17, 1999

"I've got QUITE the assignment for you." Thompson leered at Ava as she buttoned her shirt back up, her back turned to him. "Mr. Linderman was so impressed with your efficiency on your last few assignments, he thinks you're ready for something bigger and better."

"What is it?" Ava finally turned as she sat in a chair across from his desk. He reached out to hand her a folder, then teasingly pulled it out of her grasp. She glared. "Will you just give it to me?"

"Now why didn't you say that when you first came in?" He smirked as he handed her the folder. "I don't know why you always have to make things so difficult, really. All I need is a little affection, Sweetie. If I wanted someone to lay under me like a dead fish, I'd screw my wife more."

"Charming." Ava rolled her eyes. "You want someone to moan underneath you while telling you 'oh yeah, Baby, harder. You're soooo good', hire a hooker and leave me the hell alone." She opened her folder and scanned it. "Yeah, so?"

"So I want you to go there and infiltrate this organization." Thompson leaned forward on his desk, smirking at her. "Undercover, so to speak. I hope you do better undercover there than you do under mine."

"If I had more to work with, I'd be a champ at it." She smirked. "So what did this Brighton O'Rourke do to Mr. Linderman, anyway?"

"What makes you think he's done something personally to him?"

"Gee, I don't know." Ava raised an eyebrow. "Could it be because every time someone has a 'stroke' or 'heart attack', Mr. Linderman's shares go through the roof?" She nodded as Thompson's eyes narrowed. "You might have Bennet and Raines snowed out there, but I know what's really going on here. You and Linderman are using me to eliminate his competition, not pedophiles and terrorists."

"Those were just warm-ups." Thompson nodded to the folder. "See for yourself what O'Rourke has done."

She began to read the contents of the folder again, her eyes widening. "He's a bomber."

"A bomber with special abilities, like yours."

"He blows stuff up with his mind?"

"No." Thompson shook his head. "He has mechanical aptitude. He can build damn near anything just by looking at something. If you gave him a roll of toilet paper and a stick of gum, he'd probably be able to build a freakin' computer. He could have used that talent for good, but instead, he's been hiring himself out to terrorist organizations, building bombs for them, bombs that are state of the art and able to avoid detection. You can imagine what bombs like that, placed in just the right area, could do to the world, right?" Ava frowned and nodded. "And if the public ever found out that not only was he behind it, but he had a special ability that helped him, they could start wondering who else has special abilities and how they used them as well. You get my drift?"

"Someone like that could give all of us a bad name." Ava whispered.

"Right. Imagine the witch hunt. There are people out there who have dangerous abilities. Some of them are like you, they use those abilities to help the world, others use them to make this world a darker, uglier place. If that news got out into the general public, there would be a panic. People like you, like Claude, like this Brighton O'Rourke, would be rounded up into concentration camps. The general public doesn't understand that people like you, with your abilities, are the true future. They don't understand that you're the next step in evolution."

"They're scared of what they don't understand." Ava nodded as she closed her eyes. "Like the kids at the prom. They thought I was possessed by the devil. They wanted me to die."

"Imagine that on a global scale, Ava." Thompson nodded as the woman shuddered. "See? Your job isn't just taking out people that Linderman wants out of the way for his own financial gain, your job is to protect others like yourself from being persecuted, and stopping those rotten apples that would ruin the whole tasty bunch."

"What's my cover and when do I leave?" Ava looked up at Thompson, her expression determined.

* * *

May 9, 2007 

Sylar awoke, smiling as he felt Alexandra's lips moving along his neck and chest. He opened his eyes. "Are you trying to say 'good morning'?"

"In a way." Alexandra slid up his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm saying 'good morning' and I'm saying 'thank you'."

"For?" He cocked an eyebrow at her.

"For listening to me yesterday morning, hearing what I had to tell you and forgiving me for lying to you all these years." She smiled as she rested her head on his chest. "It felt so good to get that out, what Thompson did to me."

"His name was Thompson, huh?" Sylar stroked her hair. _Liar. _He thought to himself. _I'll bet you told me that sob story just to get into my good graces after acting like such a hateful bitch. Why DID you really act like that, huh? Is screwing me while screwing with my mind starting to get to you?_

Alexandra nodded. "Yeah. His name was Thompson. He was a serious bastard." As she lifted her head to look into his eyes, Sylar remembered how he looked at her as Aaron and made sure to smile at her sweetly. "I'm so glad I have you and that you were so understanding."

"What can I say? I'm an understanding guy." Sylar kissed her again. "So, just how were you planning on saying 'good morning' and 'thank you' to me? Don't you feel like going on your usual morning run?"

Alexandra smiled. "To answer your questions: lie back and enjoy and no, I thought of another way to get my heart pounding this morning."

Sylar gasped as she began to kiss his chest, her hands and mouth quickly sliding under the sheets. "Well then, good morning to you and you are soooo welcome!"

He lay in bed an hour later, basking in the afterglow as Alexandra took a shower. He smiled as he placed his hands under his head, staring at the ceiling. He turned his head as Mac began to bark and scratch at the door. "Oh, the 'family dog'." He laughed as he climbed out of bed and opened the bedroom door. Mac waddled in and looked up at him, sitting up on his hind legs and barking. "Someone's back teeth are floating, huh? Bet you're hungry too." He turned to the bathroom door. "Lexie Babe? I'm going to walk the Mac-man, okay?"

"Sure! I'll be out in a minute to start breakfast! I love you!"

"I love you too!" He pulled on a pair of boxer shorts and a tee shirt before he grabbed his shoes and scooped Mac into his arms, heading downstairs. He looked around the house again, marveling at the painstaking job the people at Primatech had done to make their home look like an actual couple had been here for more than six months. He grinned as he pulled on his shoes and put Mac on a leash, heading out the front door with him. He watched as the dog ambled around the front yard, remembering another dog like this one, a dog that was practically identical to Mac named Mr. Muggles. He knew who owned that dog and realized where 'Alexandra' had gotten this dog. "Because what happy home would be complete without a cutesy-wootsey widdle poochie-woochie." He muttered under his breath.

He stared out at their property, as his mind raced. _There's no way they would just put us both here and keep me alive without watching me. There are cameras in the house, almost definitely, microphones too, I'll bet. There's probably some seriously X-rated footage of the two of us floating around somewhere. I wonder if, when I'm done killing everyone, if I can find a copy of it. THAT would make a fun memento of my time here, footage of me banging my 'wife'. Why did they keep me alive? What in the hell do they want from me and just what kind of power does 'Alexandra' have that they think will keep me in line if I cross it?_ He smiled. _She works for Bennet, Mr. Muggles Jr. here is definite proof of that. I wonder if Claire's still around? I wonder if Matt has any powers I could get my hands on too. _He looked around at their property again. _They wanna play with me? Oh, I'll play. I think the 'wifey' and I are going to have quite a lot of fun tonight. It's time for me to reveal who I really am and find out just what in the blue fuck is going on around here. _

He glanced down at Mac. "You done?" Mac sat up on his hind legs and barked at Sylar. "Cute trick, pooch. Let's go inside. 'Mommy' is making breakfast!"

* * *

April 18, 1999 

"Okay, let's go over this again." Claude paced behind Ava as she sat in her room at Primatech, the folder closed on her lap. "What's your name?"

"Erin Jones." Ava stared at a lock of her hair, grimacing at the new blond shade it had been dyed. "Why did I have to become a blond again?"

"He likes women, blonds most especially. He has a weakness for them. How old are you, Erin?"

"Twenty-five. I turned twenty-five on April 7."

"Good girl. Tell me more about your life."

"I'm the spoiled only child of Dominick Jones, a wealthy American financier." She rolled her eyes. "I'm impossibly rich, something else that Brighton O'Rourke has a weakness for."

"Yes, he does." Claude sighed. "Are you sure you want to do this, Ava?"

"I'm not Ava, I'm Erin, remember?" She turned in her chair to smile softly at Claude. "And why wouldn't I want to do this?"

"They're asking you to infiltrate his organization as a potential girlfriend. They're asking you to throw yourself at him, whore yourself out to him. You do realize everything you're going to have to do to get close to him, right?"

"Tuck him in at night, of course." Ava cocked an eyebrow at him. "Claude, don't worry about me, okay? It's not like I'm a virgin."

"I know." Claude blushed and shook his head. "But there's a big difference between sleeping with a boy that you were in love with and a man that you're using to get information out of before you kill him."

"Trust me, I can separate sex from love." Ava looked away. "I've gotten good at compartmentalizing my feelings." She sighed. "Continue."

"And what's Erin's favorite past time?"

"Getting stinking drunk and spending Daddy's money while chasing bad boys all over Europe." She answered in a valley-girl-esque voice.

"You've got to be shallow. You've got to make him think that you're nothing but a bimbo, that way he'll lower his guard around you and let you in on what he's doing. Are you prepared to do that?"

"Of course." Ava nodded. "If it means stopping him and keeping people with abilities like ours from being tainted by the likes of him, I'm more than ready." She turned to Claude. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing and I'm ready."

"Okay, kiddo." Claude smiled kindly at her. "And if you get into trouble, just throw me a sign. I'll be there and I'll be around as much as I can. I'll be bloody invisible, but know that if you need me, you just have to yell."

"Gotcha!" Ava grinned at him.

* * *

May 9, 2007 

"So how's 'Aaron' doing this morning? I didn't see him." Matt asked as he drove himself and Ava to work.

"He's good!" Ava nodded. "He was down in the storm cellar, said there was something he wanted to look for in there."

"Interesting. Did he say what it was?"

"I have no idea." Ava laughed. "Every now and then he searches through the house to find stuff to ask me about. I've had a hell of a time making up stories and keeping them straight."

"Oh, I'll bet." Matt sighed. "So you gave Bennet a week, huh?"

Ava turned to him. "He told you guys about it?"

"No, you just thought about it." Matt laughed. "Mind-reader, remember?"

"Okay, honestly. Is reading everyone's mind as annoying to you as it is to the people you're reading? Because I've gotta tell you, it's annoying as hell having you read my mind all the time."

"It can be annoying, especially when you think about how much sex you have with 'Aaron' and how often. I'm surprised you can walk this morning."

Ava sighed and stretched. "You're not the only one who's surprised."

"Ew." Matt shuddered.

"When I told Bennet I'd give Sylar the happiest week of his life, I definitely meant it." She laughed. "I just didn't realize how much I'd enjoy it too."

"So stay with him."

"No." Ava shook her head. "After this week, I'm out as far as he's concerned."

Matt smirked. "You mouth says one thing, your mind is saying something TOTALLY different. You can kill him, you can walk away and leave him to be wiped by The Haitian, but you'll never be done with him. You love him."

"I love 'Aaron' and that's just a made up person, like 'Alexandra'. Sylar? Him I could never love in a million years."

* * *

They arrived at Primatech and made their way into the OWI area, nodding and smiling at their co-workers. Peter grinned at Ava and leaned on her desk. "You seem better today." 

"Read my mind and find out why." Ava winked at him.

Peter cocked his head to the side, then made a face. "EW!" He got up and walked away, shuddering.

They all turned as Noah walked out of his office. "There's a meeting in the conference room in five minutes. I want everyone there! EVERYONE!" He turned and walked down the hall as everyone exchanged glances.

"What's that all about?" Niki asked Ava.

"He's probably going to ask for volunteers to take over Sylar duty after next week, if he doesn't allow me to kill him instead." Ava shrugged. "I gave Noah one week's notice. I'm tired of pretending to be his wife."

"He'd better not look at me!" Niki rolled her eyes. "I'm not getting Micah involved with that man. That's the last thing he needs so soon after D.L.'s death."

"How's he coping?" Ava looked at Niki, a sympathetic look on his face.

"He has his good days and he has his bad. Moving to Texas and taking a job here was a good choice, even if it does put us a little too close to Sylar for comfort. He's been having a blast at his new school and he and Molly have been bonding. Mohinder's so great with her. I'm glad that OWI was able to pull strings to let Mohinder adopt her."

"He seems like good Daddy material." Ava winked at Niki. "So when Molly and Micah have play dates, what do their parents do?"

"Nothing!" Niki laughed. "Mo's like a brother."

"So is there anyone that you have connected with lately, on a non-fraternal level?" Ava started giggling as Niki blushed. "Oh shut UP! Who?"

Niki leaned close to Ava. "Peter Petrelli. He comes around and spends time with Micah. He says it's because he misses not being around Simon and Monty all the time anymore, what with Nathan and the family in D.C. and him here in Texas. After a while, we started spending time together too. Micah likes him."

"Good on you." Ava winked. "Peter's a good guy. Now to me, he's more like a brother, but you two? I could totally see great things between you."

"Thanks." Niki grinned and checked her watch. "Time for the meeting."

"Yeah, I can't wait." Ava sighed and headed with Niki into the conference room.

Ava, Niki, Peter, Matt, Mohinder and Candice filed into the room and sat at a table as Noah paced at the head of it. As soon as everyone was seated, Noah sat at the head of the table. "As you all know, Gabriel Gray AKA Sylar has been under our surveillance for the last six months. He has no memory of who he was and currently believes his name is Aaron Abbott. Our agent Avery Reese was assigned to him to act as his wife Alexandra. Everyone in this room with the exception of Candice has had one run-in with Sylar or another. You've all wondered for so long WHY the heads of our organization have chosen to keep him alive, rather than terminate him. It's time for everyone to know the truth. I'd like to introduce you to the new heads of OWI and Primatech, old friends and colleagues of Linderman's who took up the reins after Linderman's death last year." He turned as Kaito Nakamura and Angela Petrelli walked into the room.

Peter's eyes widened as he spotted his mother. "MOM? You're involved in this?"

"Of course I am!" Angela shook her head at Peter. "Who do you think suggested that you come on board and who do you think wanted Noah re-hired and promoted to division head?" She sat in a chair beside Noah, Kaito sitting on Noah's other side.

Noah nodded to Kaito looked around the room. "My son is someone that many of you have met. His name is Hiro Nakamura. After the events in Kirby Plaza, he teleported to seventeenth century Japan, where he met his idol Kensei, or at least the man he thought was Kensei. The man's name is actually Kane." Kaito pressed a button on the desk and waited for a digital screen to lower behind him. Kaito pressed another button, letting a photo appear on the screen. It was of a young man with blond hair and aristocratic features. "THIS is Kane."

Peter cocked his head to the side. "That picture is recent." He looked around at everyone, then turned back to Kaito. "He's immortal?"

"Yes and no. He has aged some since Hiro last saw him, but only by a couple of years at the most." Kaito look around the table at everyone. "Hiro befriended this man, thinking of him as his idol Kensei. He wasn't the man portrayed in the stories I read to him as a child. He was a selfish, power-hungry, money-hungry individual, who used his status in Japan to try and gain glory for himself. Hiro was the true Kensei that was told about in stories. He was the one who fought for a princess and united his people in Japan. Kane was furious that Hiro stole the glory that he himself was after. When he realized that Hiro was from the future, he bided his time and waited." Kaito lowered his head sadly. "On November 10 of last year, my daughter Kimiko was killed. Kane was responsible. He did it to incite Hiro to fight him, not realizing that Hiro was, at that moment, teleported into his past. As soon as Hiro returned a few days later, I realized who Kane was. I put Ando Masahashi into hiding with Hiro, where they have been all this time."

"I'm sorry about your daughter, Mr. Nakamura." Peter shook his head sadly. "But what does this have to do with Sylar?"

"Everything." Kaito looked around the room his steely gaze meeting everyone's eyes. "Before Kane left Japan in disgrace, revealed to be a phony, a man with precognitive powers told him a prophecy. Hiro heard it and remembered it. The man also painted his prophecy as well. When Hiro returned, he had the painting with him." Kaito pressed another button as a drawing showed up on the screen. It showed a blond man surrounded by a group of people: four men and four women. "The prophet told Kane that his life would end in less then four-hundred years. He told him that in the twenty-first century, soon after the sun was blocked out by the moon's shadow, eight people would stand against him, led by a man whose heart was a dark as the eclipse and someone whose powers matched Kane's. That man would give his heart to one with hair like fire who was his equal in darkness, power and love. He told Kane that those eight people would destroy him and end his unnaturally long life."

"So you think that Sylar is the one with the dark heart and that AVA is his equal in darkness and love?" Candice stared at the painting. "And you got this from a four-hundred year old painting and prophecy?"

"And from this." Kaito hit another button, allowing another painting to fill their screen. He pressed another button, allowing that painting and the Japanese painting to show side-by-side. "I'm sure many of you recognize this man's work."

"Isaac Mendez." Peter whispered.

"Linderman collected as many of Isaac's paintings as he could. Angela and I found this one the day after Linderman died. THIS is why Linderman was keeping Sylar alive, even though the man was wreaking havoc across the country. He knew about Kane and he knew that Sylar would be needed to destroy Kane. You see, Sylar isn't the only man who's killed people with powers to collect them for his own use, he was just more prolific about it, having Chandra Suresh's list. In the last four-hundred years, Kane has also killed people to collect their powers, and from what I've been able to discover, he's collected quite a few. Sylar is the only one who can truly stand up to him and lead the rest of you against him and Agent Reese here is the only one who can rein him in."

"What makes you so sure that, if he remembers even BEING Sylar, that I'll be able to do anything but kill him?" Ava stared at Kaito, confused.

"Because he loves you, you idiot." Angela snapped. "I've watched the surveillance tapes of the two of you." She smirked as Ava blanched. "Oh yes, ALL of them. The man is head over heels for you, no matter WHO he is. Once he gets over being lied to, I'm sure he'll find a way to toe the line. You'll make him toe the line, won't you dear?" As Ava shook her head and started to speak, Angela raised an eyebrow. "And before you even ask, that one week notice you've demanded has been denied. Starting now, you're going to begin prodding his memory to get it to return. You're going to start slowly reminding him who and what he really is, starting tonight. Bring Sylar out slowly while continuing to work to wrap him around your little finger. That's not a request, it's an order."

"And if he STILL tries to kill me?" Ava leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "In case you haven't read his file, let me remind you. He killed his own mother, okay? He's more obsessed with gaining more powers than anything else. I doubt giving him a happy in the bedroom is going to make him change his mind about ripping everyone's heads here open the first chance he gets. Love, for someone like him, is nowhere near as intoxicating as gaining more power."

"Then you'll kick his ass until he changes his mind." Angela rolled her eyes. "I've read his file and I've read YOURS as well. If anyone here can beat the living snot out of him repeatedly, it's you. Either win him over with his heart, or win him over after beating the crap out of him a few hundred times, it's no matter to me how you get him on this team, just as long as you do it and do it soon!" She stood up. "Meeting adjourned."

Ava closed her eyes and shook her head. "Shit." She muttered.

"Yep, no releasing him into the bosom of sweet death for you." Matt clapped her on the shoulder as he left the conference room.

Ava slowly stood up and walked over to the digital screen to stare at the paintings. She heard Peter walk up behind her, joining her at the screen. "It's eerie, isn't it?" He began to point out faces in Isaac's painting. "That's me, obviously, and Matt and Hiro and Gabriel." He pointed out a brunette, two blonds and a redhead. "And that's Candice, Niki, Claire and you." He sighed. "Looks like we're in for a new battle with a new big bad."

"Great." Ava muttered. "Now I just have to bring Sylar out to play and find a way to make him play nice."

"Just remember, there are cameras and microphones all over the house, not to mention panic buttons in each room. If he starts to show his ass, hit a button while kicking his. If the A/V techs don't already alert everyone that you need help, the panic buttons definitely will. We all live within two miles of you, with the exception of Noah. We all know that the MINUTE that alarm goes off in our homes, to drop everything, grab tranq guns and tasers and haul ass to your house. We could get there in under five minutes."

"Yeah." She whispered. "I can hold him off for that long." She nodded quietly.

* * *

"Aaron?" Sylar heard 'Alexandra' call out to him as she walked into their house. He smiled to himself, remembering the time he'd spent in the cellar, practicing the powers that had been dormant for the last six months. 

"I'm here, in the kitchen!" He called out to her.

'Alexandra' smiled and picked up Mac, who had greeted her at the door, cuddling the puppy to her as she walked into the kitchen. She grinned at 'Aaron' as he stood at the stove, cooking. "You've been busy today."

Sylar smiled at her. "Oh Honey, you have no idea!" He stirred a pot and held out a spoon. "Shrimp alfredo?"

"Oooh! My favorite!" 'Alexandra' tasted it and winked at him. "You have GOT to give me the recipe to that so I can make it for YOU one night."

"I would tell you Baby, but then I'd have to kill you." Sylar winked at her as he stirred the meal again. "Set the table?"

"Sure." She set Mac on the floor passed behind 'Aaron', giving him a squeeze before grabbing plates. As she passed by him again, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Have I mentioned lately how crazy I am about you? How many wives come home to a husband that cooks, huh?"

"Not many!" Sylar grinned at her and watched as she went to the dining room to set the table. _But then again, how many husbands wake up and realize that their wives are shady government agents placed with them to lie to them and keep them in line?_ He smiled at her as she returned to the kitchen and stood behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist as she nibbled on his neck. "You're in a good mood."

"I'm with you. That's enough to put me in a good mood." 'Alexandra' rested her cheek against his back, her hands sliding up his stomach to his chest. "I thought about you all day long."

"Really? What were you thinking about?" _Oh, this is going to be good. I can already tell what you were thinking about, you lying bitch. You were thinking about how you're going to turn me in to Bennet and his cronies after I get my memory back so you can stand over me and dissect me. Think again, Sugar. I'm not going without a fight and you'll lose that fight._

"I was thinking about what we did all day yesterday and most of last night and I was thinking about what I did with you this morning." She kissed his neck. "And what I plan on doing all night tonight."

"And what are you planning on doing all night?" _Besides begging for your life, because I WILL make you beg. Lying to me these last six months, sleeping with me, having sex with me, making me love you, making me think that you loved me. You're going to pay for that, oh yes, you will PAY!_

"Well, since you're making me dinner, I was thinking about making you moan, repeatedly." She nibbled on his earlobe as her hands slid down his chest, stomach and further. Sylar moaned softly as her hands began to massage him through his jeans. "Moaning like that, actually."

"Now, you don't want me to burn dinner, do you?" He turned his head, kissing her. "We're going to need our energy, don't you think?" _DOWN BOY! DOWN! Damn her and those roaming hands! She's still going to die. I'll make her pay, just for this. Just for making me weak against her. _

"I guess not." 'Alexandra' pouted for a moment, then slid her hands around to smack him on the rear before stepping away. "I'll finish setting the table."

"You do that." _Enjoy your last meal. _

He watched her as they ate, studying the way she smiled at him over her plate. She was a master actress, he had to give her that. The way she looked at him, smiled at him, laughed at the things he said, if he didn't know better, he wouldn't know that it was completely and totally an act. After they ate, he sat back and watched as she cleared away the plates, her hands constantly brushing him, touching him as she'd pass by him. _It's time. It's time to trap her, interrogate her and finally, kill her. _He stood up, pushing back his chair as he smiled at her. "I'm going to walk Mac while you finish up in here.

"Okay." She turned to smile at him from the kitchen sink as she rinsed off dishes and placed them in the dishwasher. "If I'm not down here when you get back, I'll be upstairs waiting for you." She winked at him. "Naked."

"Good." He returned the wink before he scooped up the dog and grabbed a leash, heading outside. He watched the house as Mac ambled along in the back yard, watching as she loaded the dishwasher and cleaned up the kitchen. He stared at his hands. "Time for the fun to begin." He concentrated on his hands and smiled as an electromagnetic pulse burst from them. The house suddenly went dark, along with all of the lights outside. He heard a crash inside the house as 'Alexandra' started cursing. He made himself look concerned as he brought Mac into the house and set the dog down. "Lexie, Honey? What happened?"

"The electricity went out!" He heard her fumble around in the kitchen. "SHIT! The flashlight's out too! I KNOW I just put fresh batteries in that thing."

"Hang on." He felt his way into the kitchen and found her, cursing to himself as his heart began to pound the second their hands touched. "Are you okay?"

"I was cleaning off the dining room table when it happened. I banged my shin on a chair."

"Poor Baby." He opened a drawer and felt around, pulling out a candle and a lighter. He lit the candle and smiled at her. "Probably an outage in town."

"Probably some damn drunk driver running into a pole down the street. Did you hear a crash?"

Sylar shook his head. "Nope, can't say that I did." He winked at her. "Well, here we are, all alone in the dark with nothing to do. What SHOULD we do, Lexie?"

'Alexandra' grinned at him. "Race each other up the stairs?"

"You read my mind!"

* * *

Noah Bennet pushed back from the dinner table and picked up his plate. He walked around to Sandra and kissed her cheek as he took hers. "That was wonderful, Honey. You always go all out at dinner." 

Sandra smiled up at him adoringly. "Well, I have to make sure to keep my guy well-fed and happy."

"And I'm both." He kissed her on the lips, ignoring the groans from Claire and Lyle. "Don't you two have homework to do upstairs?"

"Anything to get away from this squick-fest!" Lyle rolled his eyes. "Seriously, you two are like, old. You shouldn't be making out in front of us! It's just wrong!"

"Oh, leave them alone." Claire giggled as she picked up her plate. "I think it's sweet."

"Thank you Claire. You don't have to do your homework now." Noah teased.

"Wow, really?" Claire grinned.

"No, you do still have to do it, but thank you anyway." He sighed as his cell phone began to ring. "Damn." He muttered as he answered the phone. "Noah Bennet."

"Mr. Bennet?" He recognized the voice on the phone. It was James Nickerson, one of the A/V techs assigned to watch Avery's house. "I hate to bother you, but there's a small problem."

"What kind of problem? Is it Avery?" He noticed Claire's anxious look as he mentioned the agent's name. She and Avery met after they'd returned to Texas. One of his conditions for returning to OWI was being allowed to be honest with his wife and children about his job, especially when it came to Sylar. Claire knew that Sylar was back and had amnesia. She also knew that Avery was posing as his wife and watching over him.

"All of our cameras and microphones just went out about three minutes ago, Sir. We're showing that the power is out over there."

"Those cameras and microphones are supposed to work independently of the power in that house. They're all powered through fuel cells and batteries."

"I know. I called the electric company and they said that they're not showing any lines down in the area. Also" Noah heard the hesitation in the man's voice "they're registering a burst of electromagnetic energy, seconds before the power went out in that area."

"They registered an EMP?" Noah leaned forward, gripping the table. "Hit the panic button from your location, Nickerson. Send all available agents, including our SWAT into that house, IMMEDIATELY! Agent Reese is in danger!"

"Yes Sir!" Noah heard the line go dead as he looked around the table. Claire, Sandra and Lyle were staring at him, their expressions filled with terror.

"Dad." Claire whispered. "He's out and he remembers, doesn't he?"

Noah nodded. "Get packed, now. Get to the safe house. You have fifteen minutes." He looked at everyone as they stared back at him, their eyes wide. "Go on, GO!" He leaned against the dinner table, shaking his head as Sandra, Lyle and Claire scattered, running upstairs to pack. "Oh hell." He muttered. "This is NOT good!"

* * *

Candles burned in their bedroom on the nightstand. 'Alexandra' giggled as 'Aaron' kissed her neck, his hands tickling her stomach. She arched her back as his lips slid down to her belly, his fingers unbuttoning her pants. "Aaron." She whispered. 

"Say my name." He whispered back.

'Alexandra' lifted her head for a moment, grinning. "Aaron."

'Aaron' looked up at her and quickly pounced, pinning her arms beside her head. "No, say my REAL name!"

Her eyes widened, her heart dropping into her stomach as he smirked at her. "Sylar?"

Sylar nodded. "Yeah, nice to meet you Baby. Now, tell me. What's YOUR real name?" She struggled to get loose as he shook his head. "Oh, don't want to share your real name with me?" He laughed as she squirmed underneath him. "You're a fighter, huh? I like that. I can have a LOT of fun with that."

Ava glared up at him. "Really? You like this?" She wrapped her legs around his waist and crossed her ankles, tightening her thighs. Sylar yelled in pain as she squeezed him. "Like that, Honey? Having FUN with that? I can crack walnuts with these babies." As he yelped, she quickly moved her wrists and arms outwards. He let go of her arms to keep from losing his balance. The moment he let her go, he yelped again as the heel of one of her hands smashed him in the face, breaking his nose. She sat up, head-butting him before she drew her knees to her chest and, planting her feet against his chest, kicked him backwards off of the bed. She jumped off of the bed and headed for the bedroom door.

"THAT SHIT HURT!" She turned as he stood up, blood pouring from his nose. Suddenly, she felt herself get shoved face-first into the doorjamb, tears springing into her eyes as her own nose broke. She stumbled backwards, shaking her head and trying to clear her mind of the pain as he advanced on her. "Normally, I would say that hitting a woman is bad, but I'll make an exception in your case!" He twitched his fingers, shoving her backwards into the hallway as he stomped up to her. "Get up!" He twitched his fingers, sliding her up the wall. "You know, I WAS going to interrogate you, ask you about your powers, who you're working for, besides Bennet of course, but I think I'll just figure that out for myself!" As he raised his finger to her forehead, he felt an unseen force start punching him the face. He let her go as one force smacked him in his throbbing nose, making him see stars.

"How'd you like the taste of THAT power, asshole!" Ava shoved at him, pushing him away from her. "Don't make me kill you, Sylar. We need you on our side."

"Oh really?" He touched his nose, shaking his head. "Gotta helluva way of showing it, Precious! Lying to me, screwing me, for the last SIX months, you've been doing that!"

"We NEED you!" Ava pleaded with him.

"Yeah? Well I need you-TO DIE!" He took a swing at her, cursing as she ducked, his hand colliding with the wall behind her. "DAMMIT!"

"Don't fight me. You won't win!" She backed away from him, heading down the hall.

"Not so fast!" He reached out with his TK and started pulling her towards him. "Come to Daddy, Baby."

The moment she got close to him, she bent forward, her foot flying backwards over her head, kicking him in the face with a scorpion kick. He backed away, cursing as his nose exploded in pain again. She stood up, shaking her head. "Who's your daddy now, bitch?"

"That's IT! No more Mr. Nice Guy!" He charged at her, swinging. She rolled her eyes and spun around, knocking him to the ground with a roundhouse kick.

"You really need to stop now, Sylar." She circled him. "I'm smaller, faster, and better trained. You're fighting someone who's had martial arts training for the last ten years, dumbass. Don't make me keep hurting you."

"Oh, you might be hurting me now, but you're the one who's in for the world of pain later." He swung a foot out, tripping her and smiling as she fell back, hitting her head against the wall. He crawled over to her as she struggled to stay conscious. "That's a point to me."

She head-butted him again and then punched out, hitting him in the throat. She slowly stood as he lay writhing on the floor, struggling to breathe. "And that's a point to me."

"I've . . . had . . . enough . . . of . . . you." He slowly stood up, coughing as Ava shook her head.

"You're stubborn as hell, aren't you?" She sighed. "You're going to make me do it, aren't you? You're determined to make me kill you."

"No. I'm determined to get into that pretty little head and get what's mine."

"Oh, you're about to get what's yours all right. You're going to get your ass handed to you again. Some more."

He looked up, hearing voices running to the house. "Damn. I thought I'd have more time."

She glanced over her shoulder. "Yep. That's the cavalry. And they're coming to collect yo-" She turned back to him as he charged her, yelling as he tackled her. They struggled, fighting each other before they lost their balance and fell down the stairs, just as the door was kicked in. Peter, Niki and Matt ran into the house first, tranquilizer guns in one hand, flashlights in the other. They stopped in the doorway as Sylar and Ava tumbled down the stairs together and landed at the bottom in a tangled heap. Keeping their guns trained on the two of them, they watched as Sylar twitched underneath Ava, then passed out. Ava slowly sat up, clutching her nose in her hand. "Asshole broke my dose." She stood up, glaring down at him as blood poured from her fingers. She looked up at her friends, squeezing her nose as hard as she could to try and stop the bleeding. "Well, whad are you waidig for? Shoot hib!" Finally, she sighed and grabbed Matt's gun, shooting Sylar with a tranquilizer. She handed him back the gun as she let go of her nose. "Bag him, tag him and get his ass locked up. I'll deal with him later." She whispered as she leaned against the wall and slid down it in a beaten, exhausted heap.


	5. Chapter 5: New Digs

Chapter Five: New Digs

May 9, 2007

Noah paced his living room as Sandra, Lyle, and Claire ran back downstairs, carrying their luggage. He smiled nervously at them as his cell phone rang. "Noah Bennet." He barked into the phone as his family stood in front of him, eyes wide with terror. "She did? He is?" Noah sighed with relief. "And he's being taken into custody now. Avery's with him, right? Oh she DID!" He laughed softly and winked at his family as they sagged against the wall. "I'm on my way in, make sure our staff doctor comes in and has a look at the both of them. No. Use the CT machine we have on site, he's not going to a hospital if we can help it." He laughed. "Well, if he needs that, find a plastic surgeon who makes house calls and tell him it's worth his time, Angela would approve the expense. Thank you." He hung up the phone and grabbed his family, pulling them into a bear hug.

"She got him?" Claire whispered.

"According to Niki, 'Avery opened a can of whoop-ass on Sylar'. Yes, she got him." He smiled at his family as he let them go. "He's unconscious for the moment. He was already unconscious and then Avery tranquilized him, so he'll be out while our doctor examines him."

"How badly is he hurt?" Sandra asked.

"Niki says he appears to have a broken nose and concussion at the very least. Avery thinks she broke a few ribs and that he may have broken his left wrist too." Noah shook his head. "Avery didn't get off scot-free though. She's got a broken nose and from the way it sounds, a mild concussion of her own. They did quite a number on each other. I'm going in now to check on them."

"Be careful." Sandra hugged her husband. "When I agreed to you returning to the organization, I knew there would be dangers, you WARNED me of the dangers." She sighed. "I didn't expect this though."

"I know and I'm so thankful that you're here and that you're my wife. I love you." He kissed her as the kids rolled their eyes. "It's never a dull moment in the Bennet house, is it?"

Sandra laughed. "Never a dull moment at all."

Noah winked at his wife and kids and headed for the door. He pointed to Mr. Muggles. "Guard the family, Big Guy!" He laughed as Mr. Muggles barked.

* * *

"Here's some ice."

"Is it crushed and blended in a frosted glass with tequila and lime and salt around the rim?" Ava opened her eyes as she leaned back in the transport vehicle. She sat up and regarded Sylar as he lay next to her, strapped to a gurney.

Peter shook his head as he sat beside her. "Nope. It IS crushed, but it's in a baggie to bring the swelling down on your face." He studied Ava as she took the ice and placed it across the bridge of her nose and over her eyes, wincing. "Looks like Sylar put up quite a fight."

"He got his memory back at some point recently." She frowned. "I think it was last night or early this morning. I don't know why I didn't see it. He was pissed off, big time."

"Obviously. He just realized that the woman he's been loving and living with for the last six months was lying to him."

"You hit the nail on the head there, Pete." Ava took the ice away for a moment to stare at Sylar again. "That was the thing he was angry about the most, I think. At least, that's what he yelled about the most, being lied to by me." She leaned forward, gently touching his battered face. "I'm sorry I had to do it that way."

"You okay?" Peter watched her. He noticed the way she lovingly stroked his cheek, shaking his head as her hand slid down his arm to wince at the swelling and bruising in his hand and wrist.

"He punched the wall. Actually he threw a punch at me and I ducked." She glanced at Peter, noticing the concerned look on his face. She straightened up and leaned back again, putting the ice on her face. "I'm fine. I've been injured worse."

"That's not what I meant by 'you okay'. You've been living with this man for six months and he just tried to kill you tonight. That's got to take a toll."

Ava shrugged. "I had it coming. Besides, like I said. I've been injured worse."

Peter watched as the muscles in her jaw tightened for a moment. "Okay." He whispered.

* * *

April 21, 1999

She stared at herself in a mirror, making a face at the blond hair. "Blonds have more fun my ass." She muttered.

"You'll change it back when the job's done. No harm, no foul." Claude smiled as he walked around the posh apartment. "Just enjoy the perks that come with the job, Luv!"

"Yeah. Perks. What are those again?"

"This swank bloody apartment for one!" Claude stared at the view from his window. "God what I would have given as a youth to have a view of London like this." He turned to her, smiling softly. "How many nineteen year old girls get to travel to London and stay in a place like this, eh? And how many girls get put up in designer dresses and are dripping with jewels? Sure, you've gotta do some distasteful things for those perks, but bad always comes with good, doesn't it?"

"I guess." Ava stared at her dress again. "So, I'm Erin Jones, a spoiled, stuck-up, twenty-five year old American party girl and heiress. WHY hasn't anyone heard of me before, again?"

"Because until your recent birthday, Daddy kept you on a very short leash and kept whatever indiscretions you DID have out of the American papers. When you turned twenty-five three weeks ago, you got your trust fund and split. We've been paying a few tabloids here in Europe, giving them doctored pictures of you partying around Europe for the last three weeks. You were arrested in Monaco last weekend for running around topless in town in the middle of the night and you were nearly arrested in Pamplona for trying to board a plan with a 'controlled substance'. Your daddy threw enough money at the police to keep you from spending the night in jail there, but it DID make the papers. You also were spotted drunk and stoned out of your mind in Paris, Athens and Rome, with a different guy on your arm each night." Claude winked. "You've been a naughty girl, Erin."

"Great." Ava sighed. "Okay, so this Brighton O'Roarke is twenty-seven and was born and raised in Dublin. When he's not building bombs for terrorist organizations, he likes to party in London and he prefers dumb, rich blonds. Luckily for me, he's not into drugs, so I'll be able to avoid that scene with him."

"He's been spotted in a club tonight called Turnmills. You know what he looks like, right?" Ava nodded. "Okay, time to get yourself over there and make him fall hard for one Ms. Erin Jones."

"Okay." Ava turned back to the mirror, staring at her short, tight dress and jewelry. She ran her fingers through her hair and smirked. "Let's go get him."

* * *

May 9, 2007

Bennet entered the Primatech building and scanned his way into OWI. He nodded to Niki, Matt, Mohinder and Candice as he made his way to the medical wing. He spotted Sylar, still unconscious in the CT machine. Looking around, he saw Ava sitting on a stool, Peter standing behind her, while a doctor stood over her, setting her nose. The doctor looked at her, concerned. "Are you SURE you don't want a painkiller for this? It's going to hurt when I set this."

"I can't be drugged right now." Ava took a deep breath. "Just do it." She shrieked in pain, Peter and Noah wincing as the doctor set her nose with a sickening crunch. The doctor stepped back as Ava took deep breaths. "I'm okay." She slowly shook her head, her body trembling with pain. "I'm fine. I'm fine."

"Yeah, that's why you look like you're about to faint." Peter shook his head. "Just stay seated and take deep breaths before that actually happens."

"We're going to need to splint your nose for the next few weeks, Ms. Reese. Also, you're going to have some swelling and bruising for at least a week, especially around your eyes." The doctor stared at her. "You will want to avoid re-injuring that area for quite a while and with your concussion, you should be lying down."

"I will in a little while, I promise." Ava turned to watch Sylar as he was taken out of the CT machine. She slowly stood up, her legs wobbly as she walked over to him and looked at the technician. "Well?"

"No bleeding, his CT's clear." The technician raised an eyebrow as Ava sighed with relief. "He's going to need that nose set though, right away."

"I know." She nodded to the doctor. "He's out. You'll like that. You'd prefer it that way, trust me." She went over to Noah and Peter as the doctor began to fix Sylar's nose. "How's the family?"

"A little wigged-out at the close call, but they're okay. How are you?" Noah looked at her over his glasses. "You need to go home and lie down."

"This is my home now." Ava glanced over at Sylar. "My old room's still here, right?"

"Yes." Noah sighed.

"And it's still got that connecting door to another cell? One of the high-security cells?"

"Yes, it does." Noah frowned. "What are you planning?"

"I'm planning on being near him twenty-four seven until he either gives in, or we kill each other." She nodded to Noah. "You guys want him rehabbed so he can help us beat Kane, right? This is how we'll do it. Put him in the high security cell. The only room he'll be able to access will be mine. You're going to program the locks to change the code every time I exit that room. I'll need a technician around at all times to tell me the new code before I re-enter. Also, we're going to need stronger glass in his observation cell, unbreakable if you can get it. I don't want another situation like we had with Eden. Get someone to go to our house and get some clothes and items for both of us. The only person that will be allowed in that room until Sylar agrees to play nice will be me. IF you need to get in there for anything, make sure The Haitian is with you at all times." She raised her eyebrows at Noah. "Unless you have a better idea."

"No." Noah sighed. "It looks like you'll be moving back in here."

"Until Sylar agrees to help us? Yeah, I'm coming home." Ava smiled softly. She turned as the doctor approached them. "Well?"

"His nose has been set. It was a little more broken than yours and he'll probably need surgery to straighten it completely out again, but what I've done will do for now. I've also taken the liberty of splinting his wrist. It's not broken, just sprained. I see his ribs have also been taped up?"

"He had a couple of cracked ribs." Ava nodded.

"You put quite the beating on him, didn't you?"

"I guess you could say that." Ava turned to watch as Sylar was wheeled out of the medical wing, towards the high-security area. "Excuse me. Thank you for everything, Sir." She nodded as she followed Sylar into his cell. She turned to the technicians. "Until they get our new digs ready, he's going to need to be sedated. Also, I'm going to need another table brought in here and placed flush with his. I'm not leaving his side." She watched as Sylar was placed on an exam table and took a pillow and blanket that they offered her. She gently placed the pillow under his head, smiling softly, and unfolded the blanket, covering him with it.

From the observation booth, Noah shook his head as he watched her with Peter, Niki, Candice, Mohinder and Matt looking on. "Who do you think is going to get the first punch in next time?" Matt asked.

"Screw the first punch." Niki shook her head. "Who do you think is going to come out standing when this is over?"

"Hard to call." Peter frowned as another exam table was brought in and placed next to Sylar's. They all watched as Ava checked his IV, making sure he was still being drugged before taking another pillow and blanket. She climbed onto the table and lay next to Sylar, curling up around him as she dozed off, her hand resting gently on his chest.

* * *

April 21, 1999

She entered the club, smirking and strutting to the music as she made a circuit around the room, glaring at club goers and giving cutting remarks to others before settling in a booth near the back and ordering a drink. She looked around, smiling softly as she felt Claude's invisible presence beside her. "Do you see him around?" She asked.

"He's across the room from you, in the booth towards your right."

Ava scanned the room until she spotted O'Roarke sitting in a booth, surrounded by beautiful women. He laughed as he drank champagne, his eyes traveling the room as he watched the dancers. "He's even cuter in person. He's also surrounded by sluts. How am I supposed to catch his eye?"

"Get imaginative."

Ava downed her drink and stood as techno music pulsed through the club. "Imaginative, huh?" She turned and grabbed a glass of champagne off of a tray as she made her way to the dance floor, her body moving to the music. Soon she was surrounded by suitors dancing with her and around her. Smiling and laughing as she sipped her champagne, she moved and danced until she was near O'Roarke's table. Ignoring him, she continued to dance with two men, grinding against them as she laughed and drank. Within a few minutes, she felt hands on her waist, spinning her around and found herself face to face with the man she'd been trying to attract. She smirked and tried to turn away from him, smiling as his hands on her waist stopped her. "Who the hell are you?" She asked.

Brighton O'Roarke smiled down at her. Ava felt her heart pound as she studied his face. He was classically handsome, with strong features and full lips. His dark blue eyes danced as he laughed softly. "I think the question is, Darlin' who are you?" He asked with a thick Irish accent.

"Erin. Erin Jones." Ava allowed him to pull her closer as they began to dance. "And you are?"

"Brighton O'Roarke." He laughed as he tossed a dark brown curl out of his eyes. "I've heard of you, Miss Jones. You've been in all the tabloids recently."

"Oh?" Ava giggled as she pressed against him. "Gee, I dance in one little fountain naked and I'm suddenly a household name?"

"Well, when a woman as beautiful as you are gets naked, it attracts attention." Ava closed her eyes as he bent his head down, feeling his lips brush her shoulders. "But women like you love attention, don't they?"

Ava opened her eyes and grinned at him. "Depends on who's giving the attention." She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her body against his even closer than before. "And it depends on whether or not they can afford to give me attention."

"Oh, I can afford it Darlin'." Brighton's eyes sparkled as he looked down at her. "Question is, can you handle it."

"I can handle anything and anyone."

"Good." Brighton took her hand and led her away from the floor toward his booth. He glared at the women still seated there. "Off with you, you bloody slags!" As the women scattered, giving Ava hateful, furious looks, Brighton helped her into the booth and sat next to her. "So, tell me a bit more about yourself, Erin."

* * *

May 10, 2007

He sighed and rolled over, wincing at the pain in his arm and ribs. He slowly opened his eyes, his head and face throbbing. "Lexie." He moaned. "What the hell happened last night?" As he tried to sit up, he grimaced and lay back down, the room spinning. "LEXIE!"

She woke up when she heard him groaning and sat up, her body aching from the fight the night before. She looked down at him, confused as he lay with his eyes closed from pain. "Sylar." She whispered. She turned and dug in her pocket, feeling for the tranquilizer syringes she'd stuffed in there the night before. As she pulled one out and began to inject it into his IV, he reached out and grabbed her arm. She gasped and looked down at him as he glared at her hatefully. "You remember me." She nodded.

"You pretended to be my wife. You slept with me and lied to me for the last six months. I'm going to kill you, you little bitch."

Ava shook her head. "You're in no condition to fight me, and you're never going to kill me, Baby." She sighed as she injected the drug into his system. She watched as his eyelids fluttered, smiling gently as he struggled valiantly to stay away.

"Kill you." He muttered. He glared as she leaned down and softly kissed his lips.

"Promises, promises." She whispered as he finally gave in to the drug coursing through his bloodstream and passed out. As soon as she made sure he was really out, she got up, groaning at the aches and pains in her body. She slowly made her way to the door and waved to a technician in the observation booth to be let out. She glanced at herself in a mirror, frowning at the red-tinged black bruises circling both of her eyes and sighed. "Well, don't I feel pretty." She found her way to her old room and walked inside. It was still as she'd left it when she'd moved out eight years ago. She'd heard that Eden and later, Candice had stayed there when they'd first arrived at OWI, before they were given places of their own. She sat on the small double bed and looked around. It had been her home for almost two years when she first left Oklahoma, when 'Geneva' died and 'Avery' took her place. A former cell, it had been decorated originally for her, with soft, cheery pastels.

"Hey." She looked up as Candice walked into the room, carrying a tray. "Figured you were hungry. Noah said you'd be in here."

"Yeah. Thanks." Ava sighed.

"I didn't eat any of it." Candice set the tray down as Ava laughed. "Well, you're always bitching at me about eating the stuff in your desk."

"That's because you're always eating the stuff in my desk!" Ava giggled as she looked around the room. "This place hasn't changed a damn bit."

"Nope." Candice leaned against a wall. "When I first came here, I thought it was a teenager's room."

"It WAS a teenager's room." Ava shrugged. "And then I moved to the apartment in Lubbock. Is it silly that I missed this place, for the most part?"

"No, not silly at all." Candice smiled at Ava. "Out there, we're freaks. In here, we're the future, you know?"

"I know." Ava winced as she stood up. "I'm thinking about redecorating today. Put some fresh paint on the walls, get rid of the teeny-bopper motif. What do you think?"

"Do you feel up to it?" Candice stared at Ava. "You got knocked around pretty good, you've got to be sore as hell."

"I am. I'll loosen up after I've stretched and moved around. This place needs a makeover." She glanced at an open door and walked into a cell next door. It was bare and gray, with an observation window. Workers were putting in thick, heavy-duty glass. "This is going to need to be redone too. If we're going to rehab him, try to make him more people-friendly, he's going to need to feel at home, rather than in prison."

"Even if he is in prison?"

"Yeah." Ava elbowed Candice grinning at her. "Let's go tell Noah that he needs to do some shopping for me."

* * *

April 21, 1999

She giggled drunkenly as she stumbled down the hall towards her apartment, leaning on Brighton for support as she unlocked the door. "You're completely pissed, you do realize that, right?"

"I like being completely pissed!" Ava kissed him passionately as they stumbled through the door. "I feel better when I'm like this."

"I think you feel fine regardless." Brighton picked her up and carried her into the living room. "So, show me around?"

Ava leaned against him. "What room do you want to see first?"

"The bedroom." Brighton whispered in her ear.

"My pleasure." She took his hand and pulled in into the bedroom, closing the door behind them. The moment she closed the door, she turned and shoved him across the room until he was lying on the bed, laughing at her.

"You don't play around, do you Darlin'?"

"No, I don't." Ava kicked off her shoes and smiled at him as she unzipped her dress, letting it fall to the floor before she climbed onto the bed with him. She straddled him and began to kiss him while she unbuttoned his shirt, quickly pulling it off of him before reaching behind her back to unclasp her bra. She stopped as he grasped her arms, looking into her eyes. "What?"

"Slow down, Erin." He kissed her gently. "I didn't come up here for a quickie. We've got all night, no need to rush, yes?"

She stared at him, frowning. "I guess so."

He smiled. "Good." He kissed her again, his lips slowly traveling down her neck. He slid the straps of her bra down as he kissed her shoulders, then her breasts. Ava gasped, shivering as he gently unclasped her bra and stood up with her in his arms. He turned and lay her on the bed as he undressed and lay next to her. He pulled her into his arms again, kissing her body, making her moan with pleasure. When he finally made love to her, she shuddered underneath him, her fingers grasping his shoulders as they kissed, their bodies moving together as one.

Afterwards, he held her, stroking her back as she lay across him. "So, your daddy makes money and you spend it, eh?"

"I guess." She smiled softly. "And what do you do?"

"I'm work in investments. I've made quite a bit myself."

"Really?" She propped up on her elbows and grinned at him. "How much?"

"That's a cheeky question!" He laughed as he kissed her. "Enough to rival Daddy, Darlin'."

"And you made ALL of that in investments?"

"Every penny. Investments, business mergers and acquisitions. I'm quite the talented businessman."

She rested her head against his chest, listening to his heart beating. "I'm sure you are."

* * *

May 10, 2007

"Not bad." Candice backed up with Niki and Ava and surveyed their work. "We're a trio of Martha Stewarts, aren't we?"

Niki shrugged. "Yeah. Today on Martha, 'How to Make a High Security Cell Look Like Home, It's a Good Thing'. You really think a coat of paint, a bed and fresh bedding is going to please someone like Sylar?"

Ava grimaced. "Who cares? I like it, dammit!" She looked around at the job they'd done. The walls of her room had been painted bright candy-apple red with cream trim. The frilly covers on the bed had been replaced with a cream-colored comforter and red sheets, with red and chocolate-colored accent pillows thrown around. A cream colored chaise and a brown sofa with red throw pillows were in front of the television against the wall. Sylar's cell was almost identical, with teal accents instead of red and no television. A double bed replaced the exam table and a cream-colored screen hid the metal toilet and sink in the corner.

"So, he'll sleep in there and if he wants any entertainment at all, he'll have no choice but to come in here huh?" Candice smiled and nodded. "Good thinking."

"I've got the only bathroom too." Ava nodded. "Unless he'd rather use the steel toilet behind that screen. I think I'd rather use the bathroom, myself."

"He's going to need it if he wants to shower, at least." Niki shrugged. "So, we've redecorated for Captain Crazy-Pants and his 'wife', they've fixed the codes on the doors so only you'll be able to go in and out and they've put up glass so thick a rhino can't crash through it." She nodded. "I'd say you're set to move in with him, Ava. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Ava shook her head. "It's the only way I can think of to get him to calm down enough to listen to reason and hopefully join our side. We're going to be stuck in here together all day, every day until he either joins us, or I kill him, whichever comes first."

"Or until he kills you." Niki caught the look Ava gave her. "What? I'm rooting for you, Sugar, but that guy's bonkers! I don't care what that stupid prophesy says, I don't see him playing nice and helping us defeat anyone anytime soon."

"Oh ye of little faith." Ava winked at her as she turned to leave. "I guess it's time to drug him up some more and put the guppy in his new fishbowl."

"Ten bucks says they beat the shit out of each other again within the first twenty-four hours." Candice whispered to Niki.

"I'll take that bet, only I say twelve hours, tops. The red on those walls will be blood by then. I hope that doctor's on call. We're going to need him a lot in the coming days."

"You know, I can totally hear the both of you." Ava laughed as she walked down the halls.

"Then what do you bet?" Candice asked.

"Six hours before he tries to kill me and I have to give him the smack down again." Ava shrugged. "He strikes me as someone who'll be extra ornery once the drugs wear off."

"And you're going to sleep in a room next to his because?" Candice shook her head.

"Because we have no other choice." She met Matt as she approached Sylar's cell. "Did you get him?"

Matt nodded. "He was pissy as hell, but yeah. I got him." He held up a carrier case with Mac inside. "Little shit bit me!"

Ava bent down, grinning at the Pomeranian puppy inside. "Hey Mac-man!" She frowned as the dog began to growl and bark at her. "Don't look at me! Daddy started it, dammit!" She sighed. "Just let him loose in Sylar's new digs. I'm sure Mac will be pleased to see his 'Daddy' again."

"Weird, man." Matt sighed as he walked off with the carrier bouncing as Mac jumped and growled menacingly inside.

"Like Daddy like Doggie." Ava walked into Sylar's cell and headed over to his bed. "Let's get you moved before you wake up, shall we?" She reached in her pocket and injected him with more tranquilizers. "Just so you don't try to freak out on us before we've got you good and locked up." She nodded to technicians, helping place him on a gurney and followed them into Sylar's new cell. She listened as the technician told her the new code, nodding as they placed Sylar on the bed and left. She watched as he slept and finally pulled the covers down underneath him, grimacing as she maneuvered him on the bed until she could tuck the blankets back around him. She bent down and smoothed back his hair, frowning at the bruises around his eyes, identical to her own. "We really did beat the unholy hell out of each other, didn't we?" She whispered. She bent down and kissed his forehead again. "Don't make me do it again, okay? I hated doing that to you." She looked up as she heard the click of toenails on the concrete floor and nodded to Mac. "Here's Daddy! Are you happy now, you little yapper?" Mac ignored her as he jumped onto Sylar's bed and curled up next to him, licking his neck. "Between you and me Kid, maybe we'll get him acting more like he did at home, huh?" She smiled back down at Sylar. "I hope so."

She turned and went to her room, stretching as she grabbed her pajamas from a dresser in the corner. She showered and dressed for bed, turning off the light before climbing in and falling deeply asleep, exhausted.


	6. Chapter 6: The Truth

Chapter Six: The Truth

May 11, 2007

Sylar woke up slowly, his head throbbing as he sat up and stared at his surroundings. His eyes narrowed as he saw the observation window, remembering the last time he'd been a cell like this. Looking around, he realized that the LAST time he was here, his cell was a lot barer and much more Spartan. He turned, spotting a lamp. Switching it on, he stared at his cell again, his eyes widening. Someone had gone through a lot of trouble to actually decorate it. He stared at the bed he was sleeping in, smirking at the ball of fluff snoring by his side. "Hello Mac." He whispered. "I see they decided to let you come and visit." He climbed out of bed, grimacing at the aches and pains in his body. He glanced down at the splint on his arm and the bindings around his chest. He walked around his cell, looking at the painted walls and decorated bed. Sylar walked to one door, touching the doorknob and smirking as he realized it was locked. "Wait until you assholes find out I can melt the fucking thing." He muttered. He turned to stare at his cell again, wondering why they'd gone to all the trouble to decorate it and make it comfortable for him. "What in the hell are you assholes wanting to do with me?" He spotted another door across from him and walked towards it, wondering if that one was locked as well.

Sylar pushed at the door, smiling as it opened. He walked inside, noticing the décor in there. "Blue for me, red for in here. Fire and ice, how cute." He glared as he noticed the bed and who was sleeping in it. "You." He muttered. He looked around at the room again, getting angrier as he caught his reflection in a mirror. His face was more black and blue than flesh-toned, his nose swollen under the splint taped to the bridge. He stared in shock at the red-tinged black circles surrounding his eyes. He spun around, glaring at Ava as she slept peacefully, her back to him. Raising his hand, he twitched his fingers. He smirked as the covers flew off of the bed onto the floor.

Ava rolled over sleepily and sat up, staring at the blankets before looking up at him. She grinned. "Good morning, Ling-Ling, how's the nose?"

Sylar glowered at her, noticing that her own eyes were just as equally bruised as his, her own nose covered in a splint. "Oh, it's just peachy Precious. How's yours?"

"Kind of sore, but shit happens, right?" She climbed out of her bed, stretching as she smiled at him. His glower faltered as his eyes traveled over her body, staring at the skimpy shorts and tank top she'd been sleeping in. Running her fingers through her hair, she raised an eyebrow. "Seeing something you like?"

Sylar looked away for a moment. "No, your skull's still intact."

"Right." Ava turned her back to him as she bent down to pick up the bed covers, moving with a deliberate slowness as she made her bed. She turned to see Sylar still glaring at her. "So, do you have any questions?"

"What's you REAL name?" He spat.

"Do you want the name that my parents gave me when I was born, or the name I was given after my death was faked and I was brought here to train to be an agent?"

"I really don't give a shit." Sylar leaned against a wall, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Tell me both of them."

"Fine." Ava sat down on the bed, crossing her legs and smiling as she noticed the hungry way he watched her move. "I was born Geneva Grant in Achille, Oklahoma. When I was seventeen, after I manifested, I was brought here and my death was faked. I was renamed Avery Justine Reese. That's my true and legal name now. I prefer to be called Ava. Anything else you want to know?"

"Tell me about your power."

Ava shrugged. "That's a weird one, actually. It's one power, basically, but it sort of runs the gamut, you know? Officially I can manipulate the psionic field."

"Meaning?" Sylar looked at her, attempting to appear bored and angry as he willed himself to stop staring at her legs and cleavage.

"Meaning that I can sense your deepest fears and desires and make you see them. I can cause you to hallucinate that the thing that scares you the most or the thing that you want the most are standing in front of you, either scaring you or tempting you. It also means that I can control my surroundings. I can cause you to have a stroke or heart attack, or I can just make your head or heart explode. I can also hit you without ever raising a finger, push you away, or pick something up to hit you with my mind."

"Like telekinesis."

"Sort of, yeah." Ava nodded. "It's not as refined as your power though. I can't split a skull as deftly as you can, I just make it blow into chunks. Bennet and Claude used to call it a psionic bullet."

"Who's Claude?"

She smiled sadly. "An old friend. He and Bennet used to be partners. They were my best friends here. They kept me sane and alive."

"And where's Claude now."

"In hiding. He found out something that he wasn't supposed to know about and Thompson decided to use that as an excuse to have Bennet kill him. He told Bennet it was because Claude was hiding others with special abilities, but it wasn't the real reason Thompson wanted him dead."

"Oh wow, so there really was a Thompson, huh?" Sylar glared at her. "Did he molest you like you told me he did, or was that bullshit too?"

Ava stood up, glaring at him. "The only bullshit I fed you was our past and our names. Everything else I said was true, up to a point." She walked towards him. "Thompson wasn't my father's friend, he was my boss. Everything else was true though. Starting on my eighteenth birthday and continuing until last year when I finally got fed up, ran off and went on an extended trip to Barcelona, he forced himself on me every chance he got. Okay?"

"Why do I think you're still lying to me about him?" Sylar smirked. "You probably liked it. I'll just bet that the day you turned eighteen, you probably went into his office and seduced HIM." He laughed softly as she glared up at him. "You probably loved every minute of him touching you and screwing you. You got off on it, I'll bet."

"Like hell I did." She snarled. "Every time that bastard touched me, I wanted to puke. The only reason I let him do it was because he threatened to kill Bennet if I didn't."

"Really?" Sylar purred. "So were you and Bennet close in that way too?"

"No." Ava's eyes widened. "You're sick. I can't believe I never saw it before. I can't believe I actually enjoyed-" she shook her head. "Never mind."

"You enjoyed WHAT?" Sylar asked. "Lying to me? Making believe we were married and that you loved me? You probably laughed your ass off about that with Bennet and whatever other cronies you have out there."

"You're right." Ava glared at him. "I used to come to work every day and talk about what a chump you were. I used to laugh with all of them about what you were like in bed and how schmoopy and sentimental you were, always talking about how much you loved me and needed and couldn't STAND being away from me-"

"-Shut up-" Sylar snarled.

"-And then I'd tell them about how gentle and tender you were with me and I'd laugh my ass of with them about that. Peter Petrelli couldn't BELIEVE that you could actually be sweet and romantic-"

"-I'm seriously Lexie, shut up-"

"-And Mohinder Suresh? He's out there too! He used to laugh about how WHIPPED you were!" She started laughing as Sylar stomped towards her, his hands balled up into fists. "What's the matter? You gonna try and kick my ass again?"

"I'm going to shut you up for once and for all and when I'm done, I'm melting that door and getting out of here!"

"Please!" Ava ducked as Sylar took a swing at her. "You're not going to hit SHIT!" She laughed as Sylar backed up, doubling over as she mentally punched him in the stomach. "Don't make me kick your ass AGAIN!" She shook her head and stopped laughing as Sylar bent over, coughing. "You okay?"

"No." Sylar glared up at her. "You hit my ribs again."

"Sorry." Ava reached out to touch him and rolled her eyes as he slapped her hand away. "Fine! Be a big baby about it then! I'm going to take a shower. Before you started acting like an asshole I WAS going to see if you wanted to take one with me, kiss and make up, so to speak, but now you can just stay there and keep stinking up the joint!" She turned, pulling off her tank top and shorts as Sylar limped over to a chair and sat down in it. "And if you even THINK about melting that door while I'm in the shower, think again! If you escape and kill a bunch of people on your way out, you'll really piss me off and you don't want ME pissed off."

"Like you'd be able to find me." Sylar glanced over at her, then looked away when he realized she was naked.

"Oh, I'd find you. I'd find you, I'd beat the living shit out of you again and make the other night look like a day at the park, then I'd drag what would be left of your ass back here again!" She turned and headed towards the bathroom. "And one more thing, if you really did think that I'd come to work every day after sleeping next to you all night and actually make FUN of you? Then you're even MORE deluded than I thought. And Thompson? I didn't lie to you about him then and I'm not lying to you about him now. He was a sleaze and a lech and I'm glad Bennet finally put a bullet in his disgusting brain."

Sylar stared at the floor as the bathroom door slammed behind Ava. "I'm not deluded." He pouted.

* * *

May 16, 1999

Claude paced the apartment as he talked with Thompson on the phone. "She's been with him for nearly a bloody month and has yet to find anything. I'm starting to wonder if we're barking up the wrong tree here."

In his office, Thompson smirked. "She's probably not digging deeply enough. Tell her to start staying at his place more and to snoop around when he's not there."

"She's DONE that! She's doing that now! They spend most of their time together at his place. He even gave her a bloody key, if you can believe that. She gave a copy of me to snoop around too. There's nothing there, Thompson."

"Does he suspect her?"

"No." Claude sat on the couch, sighing. "He's too besotted with her to think she's anything more than a spoiled heiress who's turning into the love of his life. I couldn't get out fast enough the other night when I went in there to check on his place. They showed up and went into the bedroom."

"Oh?" Thompson lined pencils up on the blotter of his desk, muscles in his jaw tightening. "Keeping him busy in the bedroom, is she?"

"I'd say they're keeping each other busy." Claude rolled his eyes. "All they do is shag and snog, shag and snog. It's not proper for me to be listening to that, Thompson. She's like my-" he sighed. "-like my niece or daughter or something. I don't like hearing the two of them when he's doing that to her."

"Finds it distasteful, does she?" Thompson grinned.

"Distasteful?" Claude snorted. "It sounds like she's having the time of her life. She's just as enamored with him as he is with her."

Thompson's smile dropped from his face. "Do you think she's falling for him?"

"Try fallen, past tense. He had her from the first night he slept with her and she had him. I think she may be compromising herself with him. Please tell me I can pull us out of this situation and you can either drop the case or put someone else in there. I'm telling you though, there's nothing to find. He's either doing an extremely admirable job of hiding his extracurricular hobbies, or you've got the wrong guy."

"Neither of you are being extracted from this." Thompson made a face as he swept his hand across the desk, knocking the pencils to the floor. "You tell that little twit to quick fucking around, literally and figuratively, and get his dick out of her mouth long enough to truly investigate this. I don't care HOW good of a lay he is, he IS the bomber and she WILL find the evidence and kill him when she's done. And when she's finished, she'll come back here and report to me. Tell her to start showing up at his job unannounced, see what she finds there. Tell her to climb out of his bed and start actually looking around at her surroundings, and tell her that if she even ATTEMPTS to come back here without killing him first, she won't like what I'll do to her, is that clear?"

Claude glared into the phone. "I'll tell her." He hung up. "You fucking git!"

* * *

May 11, 2007

Bennet walked into work and stared at the sight before him. Peter, Mohinder, Matt, Niki and Candice were crowding around a video monitor. "What are you doing?"

Candice turned around, grinning. "He's awake and he just confronted her!"

"And?" Bennet stepped towards the monitor. He frowned as he saw Sylar sitting in a chair in Ava's room. "Where is she?"

"In the shower." Niki shook her head. "I know I've got a killer bod-"

"-Yeah you do!" Peter winked at her.

Niki laughed. "Thanks Babe. Anyway, WHY do I feel the need to do a shit load of sit-ups every time she decides to take her damn clothes off?"

"Because she's got a SICK figure!" Matt shook his head.

"Just HOW closely did he confront her?" Bennet stared at them.

"They just yelled at each other, that's all." Candice glanced over at Bennet. "Did you know about Ava and Thompson?"

Bennet nodded sadly. "I found out about it last year."

Candice shrugged. "I knew he was a disgusting perv. He was always trying to look up my skirt."

"Don't we all." Mohinder blushed as he stared at the monitor.

"At least you think you're being secretive about it though." Candice laughed as Mohinder's blush deepened. "Yeah, you're busted by the way. Anyway, what's all this about AVA'S bod? Sylar's is waaaay hotter!" She shrugged as everyone stared at her. "What? Okay, so I pretend to be one of the A/V techs occasionally to watch some homemade porn, so what? Dude's packing and knows how to throw down! And his ass? OH MY GOD! I'd tap that too! Ava's one lucky bitch."

Bennet looked at her over his glasses. "You disguised yourself as an A/V tech to watch Ava and Sylar have sex?"

Candice nodded. "Girl's gotta get her kicks somewhere, right?" She cocked her head to the side. "Theoretically speaking, if I had disguised myself as Ava at any time and slipped over there at lunchtime for an afternoon delight, how much trouble would I have been in?"

"Shall I answer that with a retroactive firing?"

"You DIDN'T!" Niki stared at her.

"NO!" Candice shook her head. "Seriously, no. But I did think about it, a LOT! I knew if Ava figured out what I'd done, I'd get that ass kicking she keeps promising me whenever I eat her food, so I didn't do it." She turned to Bennet. "And you can't fire me, I'm in the prophesy, remember?"

"She's out of the shower!" Matt grinned at the monitor. "And she's walking back into her room."

Bennet shook his head. "You guys should really give her some privacy."

"I am." Matt nodded. "There aren't any cameras in the bathroom." He looked over at Bennet. "Boy's gotta get his kicks somewhere, right? Janice is hugely pregnant and hates it if I even THINK about touching her. I doubt she'll care if I occasionally stare at my partner and wonder what she looks like naked. It's not like I'd ever act on it."

"Think again." Niki sighed. "If Jan ever found out that you even CONSIDERED what Ava looked like without her clothes on, she'd beat the living shit out of you. I would if I were her."

"And that's why I'm not married to you." Matt watched the monitor. "So seriously, who thinks they're both going to end up in medical by the end of the day again?"

"Me." Peter nodded his head. He looked around as Niki, Candice, Matt, Mohinder and finally Bennet raised their hands.

"I just hope they last longer than six hours." Candice shrugged. "Otherwise, I'll lose my bet to Ava."

"If she antagonizes him until he takes a swing, she forfeits her bet." Niki nodded.

* * *

May 16, 1999

Claude looked up as he heard keys in the door of Ava's apartment and quickly stood, making himself invisible. He watched as Ava ran into the apartment and closed the door behind her. "I'm alone, Claude." She whispered.

Claude materialized in front of her. "I just spoke to Thompson. He's serious about you finding some evidence on O'Roarke."

"I know." Ava paced the room in front of him. "Claude, can I ask you a question, just between us?"

"Of course you can. What's the question?"

Ava turned to him. "Is it true that you're running an underground railroad of sorts for people like us?"

Claude stared at her, then looked away. "Why do you ask?"

"I've heard rumors for a while, I just ignored them. Is it true?"

"I'll tell you when you tell me why you're asking."

"Because I want to hide, with Brighton. I want YOU to hide us." She looked at Claude pleadingly. "Claude please. I love him and he loves me and he's not what Thompson says he is, I swear to God. He's just a guy with a lot of money who has been accused of something I KNOW he didn't do. Please help us, Claude. Let me run away with him. Let me be with him."

Claude sighed and closed his eyes. "IF the rumors about me are indeed true, and I'm NOT saying they are, I wouldn't be able to help you."

"Why not?" Ava grabbed his arms, looking into his eyes. "Claude, I'm begging you."

"And I'd love to help, but you've seen those two marks on your neck, yes?" Ava nodded, tears springing into her eyes. "It's from an injection with a radio isotope. It's a way for our company to track us and find us."

"But it can be removed! I know it!" Ava burst into tears. "I want OUT!"

"There is no out, not for us." Claude pulled Ava into his arms as she sobbed. "I wish I could tell you something else, but you know I can't and you know that the only way out for us is a bullet to the brain. I'm sorry, Ava."

"Please don't tell Thompson. Don't tell him that I'm in love with Brighton and please, please don't tell him that I want to run away with him."

"I won't." Claude crooned to her as he hugged her tightly. "He knows that you've gotten close to him though. He knows that we haven't found anything. He's insistent on you finding something soon though. He said that if you return without finding the evidence and killing O'Roarke, you won't like what he does."

Ava pulled away from Claude, her eyes widening. "Just how much DID you tell Thompson?"

"What I just said to you, that you're falling for him and that you haven't found anything."

"You told Thompson that I'm falling for Brighton?" Ava shook his head. "Oh no. No, no, no, no!"

"What?" Claude stared as Ava began to shake. "What's wrong?"

"It's Thompson." She looked over at Claude, then shook her head. "I can't tell you."

"Tell me what?" Claude watched as Ava shuddered. "Ava, what's wrong?"

"I can't tell you!" Ava shook her head as she ran into her bedroom. "If I tell you, you'll die." She closed the door behind herself and lay on her bed, sobbing as Claude knocked on the door, talking to her through it.

"You can tell me anything, Ava. You know that. Ava?" Claude sighed. "What in the hell is going on with that kid?"

* * *

May 11, 2007

Sylar watched as Ava got dressed in front of him. "So where do you think you're going?" He asked.

"Work, where else?" Ava turned to him. "You know, if you promised to behave yourself, you could come too and find out why we're going to so much trouble to keep you alive." She cocked her head to the side. "Or you can sit in here all day and pout." She smirked as Sylar turned away from her. "Sit in here and pout then. I'll have someone bring you some breakfast and I'll come back in a while to walk Mac."

"I'll walk him." Sylar turned to watch as she headed towards the door. "Why did you let him come here, anyway?"

Ava turned to him. "Because he loves you and he missed you. He bit Matt when he tried to get him and he snapped and growled at me when I saw him. He loves his daddy."

"I'm not his daddy." Sylar turned away from her.

"Maybe not, but he still loves you." Ava watched as Sylar continued to stare at the wall. "I'll be back in a while. I'll send someone to walk Mac. You're not allowed out of this room, you know."

"I won't miss you."

"Remember, melt that door and I'll stomp your ass."

"I'd like to see you try." Sylar muttered.

"You just stay right there and pout all day, you big baby." Ava sighed as she walked out the door, closing it behind her.

Sylar poked out his bottom lip, glaring harder. "I'm not pouting."

An hour later, he looked up and glared even harder to see Bennet walk through the door, carrying a tray. "Well, well, well, look who we have here!" He stared at the tall, dark-skinned man who followed Bennet, carrying a laptop. "And who's that?"

"Someone to keep you civil." Bennet set the tray down. "Ava said you would probably be hungry."

"I don't want it, it's probably drugged."

"Fine. Sandra was running late this morning so all I got was a bowl of Claire's Apple Jacks." Bennet sat across from Sylar on the couch and lifted open the top of the tray. He smirked as Sylar's stomach started growling audibly at the sight and smell of the scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast. "Sure you're not hungry?" Bennet reached for the toast and smiled as Sylar snatched up the tray, eating quickly as he glared at Bennet. "So do you want to know why you're here?"

"Because you missed me and wanted to get knocked out and locked up while I terrorized your family again?" Sylar smirked.

"No." Bennet shook his head. "You're not doing that again. You're not going to be able to do anything with Ava around, much less my friend here." He nodded to The Haitian and watched as he set the laptop down next to Sylar. "For when you get bored."

"What's in it?"

Bennet stood up and headed towards the door. "Answers. Answers to any questions you have." He whistled and smiled as Mac waddled into the room. "Need to go for a walk, Little Man?" He smiled as Mac ran to him, barking.

"Yeah. Right." Sylar stared at the laptop as Bennet left the room with The Haitian, Mac tucked under his arm. "I'll just bet there are all kinds of answers in there."

After breakfast, Sylar took the laptop into his room and sat on the bed, turning the computer on. "Answers to what?" He asked himself. He flipped through files, finding one about him. He grimaced as he saw pictures of his mother's body, as well as Charlie Andrews, Zane Taylor, Chandra Suresh, Jackie Wilcox and Molly Walker's parents. Closing that file, he found one for Avery J. Reese. "Well, well Ava, let's see what dirt Bennet has on you." He opened the file and started reading it aloud.

"Avery Justine Reese, AKA Geneva Gail Grant. Birthplace: Achille, Oklahoma. Date of Birth: April seventh, nineteen-eighty." He smirked. "When most women lie about their age, they say they're younger, not older. Power: psionic manipulate. Manifested at seventeen years old." His eyes widened as he read about the events of her prom, his jaw dropping as he saw the pictures that accompanied it. "Holy shit." He smiled. "The things I could do with THAT power!" He continued to read, smirking at the mention of Thompson, and began to read details about her training. "They trained you to be quite the little killer, didn't they, Baby? Efficient too. Seven kills after your eighteenth birthday in one year." Finally, he began to read about her London job with Brighton O'Roarke, his smirk suddenly fading as he read the details. "Holy shit." He whispered. Finally, he closed the laptop, his face turning pale as he stood up and began to pace the room. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "That explains a lot." He whispered. He glanced over at the closed computer. "It explains everything."


	7. Chapter 7: Past Demons

Chapter Seven: Past Demons

May 11, 2007

Sylar glanced up as Bennet entered his room again, once more followed by The Haitian. He shrugged as he watched them enter and sit down. "So what do you want now?"

"I heard from our A/V techs that have been watching you in this room that you've looked at the laptop." Bennet cocked his head to the side as he watched Sylar. "Any questions?"

"Sure." Sylar smirked. "Does Ava kill or cause the death of EVERY man she ends up sleeping with?"

Bennet glared at him. "Ava's had some very unfortunate things happen to her in her life, as you've read-"

"-Unfortunate." Sylar snorted. "That's rich. Her high school boyfriend is dead because of her, her boyfriend Thompson is dead because of her-"

"-Thompson was NEVER her boyfriend." Bennet shook his head. "He used her. He took advantage of her when she was young and naïve and spent the last nine years basically raping her, first here and later in her own apartment."

"Yeah, because she continued to be so naïve last year." Sylar grinned as Bennet's glare hardened further. "She had an affair with him for nine years, until you popped a cap in his melon." He leaned forward, smirking. "Did you do it for her? Did you do it because you were jealous that she was giving it up to Thompson instead of you?"

"No." Bennet snarled. "I did it because he threatened my family, was about to kill Matt Parkman and because he was trying to kill me. I didn't find out about her and Thompson until after he was dead." He leaned forward. "Avery was seventeen years old when she came to us. She was an innocent, scared kid. I have watched over her, protected her and trained her for the last ten years. She's like a daughter to me and if you EVER dare to imply anything else again, I will rip your tongue out and shove it up your ass before I break your neck, that stupid-ass prophecy be damned."

"Prophecy?" Sylar raised an eyebrow. "What prophecy?"

Bennet smirked. "Too busy reading up on the woman who kicked your ass to read anything else, I see." He laughed softly as he stood up. "It's too early for me to discuss anything else with you, you're too busy trying to figure out how to hurt Avery to even begin wondering why we've kept you alive all these months when we could have just had her kill you at any time." Bennet glanced over at Sylar as the younger man glared angrily up at him. "And she would have done it too, no matter how much she cared about you. You know I'm right, you've read her file, after all."

As soon as Bennet left, Sylar stood and began to pace the floor of his cell, glancing over at the laptop on the bed. Finally, he sat down and re-opened the laptop, glaring up at a camera as it began to boot up. "Let's find out about this stupid-ass prophecy." He muttered.

* * *

May 20, 1999

Ava sat up in bed, looking around as she realized that Brighton had already left for the day to go to work. She sighed as she climbed out of bed and put on her clothes, frowning as she wondered how she could run away with him. She had fallen deeply in love with him in the past month. Ava walked around his apartment, smiling softly to herself as she thought about a future with him. She imagined herself running away with him, marrying him and having a family, while making love every night with the same intensity that they'd made love every night repeatedly since she'd met him. She smiled wider as she found a note on the breakfast table, kissing after reading it. _"I'll be home for lunch, Darling. I'll bring home a surprise for you."_

Her smile faded as she thought about Thompson's orders to find evidence against Brighton and kill him. She closed her eyes, tears seeping from under the lids as she thought about having to return to the United States, to Thompson's waiting grasp. Ava shuddered with revulsion as she thought about Thompson and the way he touched her. The rough way he would have sex with her, compared to the gentle lovemaking that Brighton had introduced to her was as different as night and day. She knew that, no matter what, she couldn't return to Thompson and his rough hands that hit too quickly if she struggled against him and covered her mouth when she'd start crying. She shook her head, opening her eyes as she wiped away tears. She knew that she had to find a way to run with Brighton, she had to leave the organization and Thompson, even if it meant leaving Bennet and Claude, her two best friends behind to bear his wrath.

"I'll run away." She whispered to herself. "WE'LL run away. We'll do it tonight. I'll tell him everything. He loves me, he'll understand. He has more than enough money to keep us on the run and keep us safe until they get tired of looking for us. We'll leave tonight." She nodded as she turned and ran back to Brighton's bedroom. She'd practically moved in with him in the last month, keeping most of her clothes in his apartment. She quickly pulled all of her clothes out of the drawers and closet, folding them on the bed before turning to find a suitcase. She went to Brighton's closet, which she'd searched time and time again in the last month, praying she wouldn't find any evidence and breathing a sigh of relief when her searches had turned up empty. She began to pull his clothes out of the closet, tossing them on the bed haphazardly. She sighed with relief as she spotted his luggage and pulled it out. Unzipping the suitcases, she quickly filled them with their clothes and went back into his closet to find more. As she passed over the spot where his suitcases were, she frowned as she realized that the floor seemed to give. Bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, she realized that the floor was springier underneath her. "No." She whispered to herself. "Please no."

She knelt down and felt around the edges of the carpet along the baseboards, her heart pounding as she found a loose edge of carpet. As she pulled back on the carpet, she spied the loose floor boards underneath. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she lifted up the boards. "No." She shook her head as she saw the bomb-making materials. Ava sat back on her heels, her heart plummeting into her stomach as she buried her face in her hands, realizing that Thompson had been right about Brighton.

Choking back a sob, she shook her head in denial. "No, it's not true, it can't be." She moaned.

"Sorry Darlin', but it's true."

As she stood and spun around, she felt Brighton's fist connecting with her cheek, knocking her to the floor of the closet. She lay on the floor as Brighton leaned in the closet doorway, staring at her sadly as she broke down in tears, her body wracked with sobs. "You had to be nosy, didn't you? I had a feeling you were an agent, but I hoped that you'd grown to care about me the way I cared about you. You really were something, I'll give you that. Which group are you with, Darlin'? CIA? Scotland Yard? Interpol? They trained you very well, made you quite the Mata Hari." He leaned down to glare at her as she turned to look up at him. "You're nothing but a whore for them, you do realize that, right?" He stood up straight. "It didn't stop me from falling for you though, you were just THAT good! I'd even decided that you weren't an agent after all, until I came home for lunch and found you in here. I was going to tell you everything tonight. I was going to ask you to work with me."

"Why? Why did you do this? Why DO you do this?" Ava sat up, staring up at Brighton with a heartbroken look on her face. "Why would you think I would agree to HELP you with this?"

"Because of the money. Stockbrokerage is a good job and it pays the bills, but it didn't give me the money I needed to retire the way I'm planning. This does. I thought you'd understand."

"Understand?" Ava slowly stood up. "Understand that you KILL people for money? You thought I'd understand that you're giving every person with a special power a bad name, you bastard? You thought I'd understand that you made me love you while you lied to my face?" She shook her head. "The only thing that I understand is now, I have to finish this job."

"That's quite unfortunate. You loved me, yes? I loved you. I still do, Erin."

"My name isn't Erin." Ava shook her head. "And this? I might have loved you, but this isn't real."

"This is real." Brighton reached into his pocket as Ava glared at him, directing the power within her at him. He looked up at her, his eyes widening with surprise as blood began to gush from his nose.

"What are you doing?" He shook his head. "Erin. No. NO!" He screamed as he collapsed, gurgling for a moment before he died.

Ava collapsed on the floor, sobbing loudly. She crawled over to Brighton and reached into his pocket, her sobs growing louder as she saw the black velvet box. She set it aside as she cradled his head in her lap, rocking back and forth as she wailed.

* * *

May 11, 2007

Sylar looked up from the laptop as he heard a door open in Ava's room. As she walked into the room carrying two trays, he returned to the files on the computer. "What do you want?"

"I thought you'd want some lunch."

"Not hungry."

Ava set one tray on his bed and nodded to the laptop. "Bennet told me he gave you that. He said it had the files on it about the prophecy."

Sylar looked up at her, grinning from ear to ear. "Yeah, that's pretty interesting. The idea that I'd actually WORK alongside all of you after all the shit you've pulled these last six months? That's rich!" He glanced back down at the computer. "That's not ALL Bennet put on there, though."

Ava frowned. "Oh?"

"No." Sylar smirked. "So, tell me about Brighton O'Roarke."

Ava backed away from the bed. "No." She turned and left the room, setting the tray in her hands on her bed.

Sylar followed her, standing in the doorway between their two rooms, grinning as she took deep breaths to control herself, her back to him. "I read all about him. It's in a file in there. He had a special ability similar to my original one. We both saw how things worked. He used his ability to create bombs and you were sent to screw him until he gave up the information, weren't you?"

"Shut up." Ava whispered, still turned away from Sylar.

"You were sent to distract him with your body while you got evidence on him so you could kill him with your little 'psionic bullets'. But you ran into a teeny little problem. You fell in love with him."

"Shut up." Ava's voice began to grow louder.

"He lied to you about what he did and who he really was, but that's cool because you were lying too. You didn't take it so well though, did you? The minute you found out that he was a bomb-making lying little shit, you stroked his brain out."

"Shut up."

"And yet, even though he'd lied to you and proven himself to be a killer, you still couldn't take what you'd done. You couldn't handle killing the man you loved, the man who loved you back, could you? That's why after he died, you took the engagement ring he had in his pocket, the ring that his coworkers said he was going to give you that day, the day you killed him. You took that ring, you packed your bags, you raided his medicine cabinet and his wine cellar, you went to a hotel room and you tried to commit sui-"

"-I SAID SHUT UP!" Ava spun around to glare at Sylar, feeling the control of her powers start to slip away. She gasped as Sylar was tossed like a rag doll through the air, landing on his back in the middle of his cell. "Oh shit!" She ran into his room as he lay on his back, struggling to catch his breath. "Sylar?" She knelt beside him, cradling his head in her lap as she stroked his forehead. "Oh my God, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."

She yelped as he reached out, grasping her wrists with his hands. "Take your lying, fucking hands off of me you little government whore." He wheezed.

Ava jumped back as if she'd been slapped. "What did you just call me?"

Sylar rolled over and stood up, glaring at her. "Oh, you heard me. Did you just hear that bell Honey? Round two just started and it's time to open another can of whoop ass!"

* * *

May 20, 1999

Claude grabbed his phone as it rang. Before he could say anything he heard a voice. He recognized the sound of Ava's voice right away. "It's done. I found the evidence. It's in the floor of his closet. He had a false floor, you see."

"Ava, where are you?" Claude stood up, his heart pounding at the dead, monotone sound in her voice. "Ava, what happened?"

"He found me. He's dead. I killed him. Thompson will be proud."

"Where are you, Ava?" Claude closed his eyes as he ran his fingers through his hair. _Just a kid, she's just a kid really, why did Thompson have to make HER do this? She's just a bloody kid! _

"Don't try to find me, okay? Promise me you won't find me?"

"Ava, what's going on?" He could hear her start to sob as her voice began to grow thick.

"I can't live like this anymore. I can't live in a world where I kill the ones I love." Claude began to pace frantically as Ava began to slur her words. "I loved him Claude, and he loved me. He had a ring for me. He was going to propose-"

"-Ava, Darling. Where are you? What have you done? Are you okay?"

"I'll be okay soon. He called me Darling too, you know. He's on the floor of his bedroom now. I killed him."

"I know, Sweetie. Where are YOU?"

"Don't try to find me. I can't go back. I can't be around him and his hands and what he makes me do." Claude could hear her start sobbing louder. "I can't bear the thought of him touching me anymore."

"Who? Brighton?" Claude frowned as the phone went dead. "SHIT!" He dialed Thompson's number, speaking the moment the man picked up. "It's Raines. She did it. She found the evidence and killed O'Roarke but I don't know where she is and she doesn't sound good. Use the satellite and track her. Do it now!" He waited as Thompson quickly found her coordinates and gave him the address. "Send someone to extract us as soon as bloody possible. This whole thing has seriously messed her up." He slammed his cell phone shut and ran out of the door of the apartment, hailing a cab to the address Thompson had tracked her at.

The cab pulled up at a seedy hotel on the outskirts of London. Claude rushed inside and, after bribing the desk clerk, got a key to Ava's room. He entered the room, his heart pounding as he saw her sprawled on the bed, a half-empty bottle of wine beside her and empty bottles of pills surrounding her. "Ava." He choked on a sob and pulled her into his arms, slapping her face to try and revive her. "Don't do this to me, Kid!" He turned and called for an ambulance before returning to her, pulling her into his lap as he rubbed her hands, staring at the diamond ring on the fourth finger of her left hand. "Damn you for this, Thompson. I knew she wasn't ready for something this intense."

* * *

May 11, 2007

Bennet answered the phone and bolted upright in his chair as he heard the reports from the A/V tech. "Oh hell!" He jumped out of his chair and rushed out of his office, waving to The Haitian to join him as he ran down the hall.

Peter, Niki, Matt, Candice and Mohinder all stared at each other, then jumped out of their chairs and followed Bennet and The Haitian as they sprinted down the hall towards Ava and Sylar's cells.

"Okay, what time is it?" Candice asked.

"Twelve-thirty." Niki answered.

"What time did he wake up?"

"Seven."

"So it's been less than six hours? SHIT! Ava's going to win the damn bet!" Candice made a face.

"Not if she started the fight." Niki shook her head. "Remember, she starts it, she forfeits her bet!"

They all arrived at the observation booth, their eyes widening at the fight going on inside. Sylar's lunch was scattered all over the floor, being eaten by Mac in between excited barks at his owners fighting. Sylar staggered away from Ava as she smashed him over the head with his tray. "Throw that at me will you, you jackass!"

Sylar reached out, sending the tray flying with a flick of his fingers, then pinned her against a wall. "How did it feel, huh? How did it feel being lied to the way he lied to you? You loved him and he was lying all along about who he really was! NOW YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL!" He staggered back again as he was hit with an unseen force. "STOP MENTALLY HITTING ME!"

"Then stop flinging trays at me and pinning me to walls!" Ava struggled to get down as Sylar glared at her. "Don't MAKE me hurt you again, dammit!"

"Oh, you mean as opposed to the hurt you've already inflicted?" Sylar stomped towards her. "I'm not talking about the pounding head and nose here, Baby, I'm talking about lying to me about who we BOTH were these last six months!"

Bennet turned to The Haitian. "We need to get in there before they tear that place apart. Go ahead and block their powers."

The Haitian nodded. Everyone noticed how Sylar looked around, confused as Ava slid down the wall. He ignored the people watching at the window as he stomped towards her and started slapping at her. "That's for lying to me! That's for making me think I was some chump named Aaron Abbott! That's for making me think we were married! And this is for making me think that I loved you!" As he slapped at her, she ducked and punched him in the stomach, shoving him back away from her. Sylar ignored the pain and ran at her again, grabbing a handful of her hair.

Matt's eyes widened as he turned to his companions. "Did this REALLY devolve into a slapping and hair-pulling fight? What the hell? Are they adults or two third-grade girls?"

"Let me go you big girl!" Ava struggled to free herself as Sylar yanked at her hair. "What in the HELL is wrong with you?"

Bennet and The Haitian ran into the room and tried to pull them apart as they slapped at each other, shrieking.

"You lied to me about EVERYTHING!" Sylar yelled as he pulled at her hair, slapping at The Haitian and Bennet as they tried to pull them apart. "You lied about loving me! You lied about who we were! You lied about our lives together, you little bitch!"

"That's enough!" Bennet finally pulled them apart and tried to straighten his glasses. "What has gotten INTO the two of you?" His eyes widened as Ava turned around and punched him in the face.

"Why did you have to tell him about Brighton?" She backed away from him, sobbing. "WHY?"

Sylar glared at her. "So I would know that I wasn't the first man you fucked and lied to while pretending to love, that's why!"

Bennet shook his head. "No! I did it so maybe Sylar would actually know YOU instead of Alexandra!" He glared at Sylar. "I should have known he'd use it to push you further away instead of maybe understanding you better."

Sylar sneered at Ava as she struggled to compose herself. "The only thing I know, is that she's nothing but a government-paid whore and I'm getting off lucky being in this cell instead of lying on the floor of our house dead, the way Brighton O'Roarke did."

Ava glared at Sylar. "I'm not a whore." She snarled.

Sylar smirked as Ava glared hatefully at him. "You were paid to fuck me, what would YOU call it?"

Peter's eyes widened as he turned to Niki. "I think Round Three is about to start. We need to get in there and pull them apart before they clash again."

"Why me?" Niki shook her head. "I'm not going in there."

"Super strength, Baby." He took her arm and led her towards the room.

Ava shook her head as Sylar started laughing at her. "I'm NOT a whore!"

"Call yourself what you want." Sylar walked to the bed and sat down. "Hell, I certainly enjoyed it. You definitely earned your paycheck these last few months."

"YOU SON OF A-" She lunged at him as Peter and Niki ran into the room and grabbed her. "Let me GO! I'm going to KILL him!"

"No." Niki shook her head as she pulled Ava out of the room. "You're coming with me to cool off, that's what you're going to do."

"Yeah! Go ahead and cool off, Babe!" Sylar smirked. "And when you're done, take another handful of pills and wash them down with some wine. Maybe this time you'll do the job right!" He yelped as Bennet stomped forward and punched him in the face.

"That's IT!" Bennet shook his head. "Get Angela Petrelli and Kaito Nakamura back on the phone. There's got to be another way around this without using HIM! He's not worth the aggravation."

Ava pulled away from Niki and stomped back towards Sylar. "I might have lied to you about my name and yours, I might have lied to you about being your wife, but the one thing I NEVER lied to you or Brighton O'Roarke about was the way I felt about either of you. You know something else? You can sit there and talk about how you don't care one bit about me either, but I know the truth. You wouldn't be this upset if you didn't care about me back." She looked down at him. "But no matter how much I love you, I will NEVER forgive you for throwing my past up in my face or for calling me a whore, so you can stay in here, fucking rot and go straight to hell." She turned and stomped out of the room with Niki running behind her.

Bennet nodded and turned to Peter. "I know this is asking a lot, but can you stay in here in Ava's room until we can figure something else out? I don't want her back in here with him and you can use her power to keep him in line."

"Sure." Peter glared down at Sylar as the man turned away from them on the bed, sulking. "I'll stay here until Mom and Kaito decide what to do with him."

"Thanks." Bennet gave Sylar a final withering glance before he left the room.

"Nice. Real nice." Peter shook his head as Sylar ignored him. "What she just said was true, man. She may have lied to you about a lot of things, but the way she felt about you? That was true. She used to come to work every day and beat herself up over having to lie to you. She worried about whether or not she'd have to end up killing you. I never told anyone this, but she used to sit at her desk and plan ways to take you and run off, just the two of you. She wanted everyone to just let you go. You never knew any of that about her, but it's true. She loved you so much, she was willing to overlook everything you'd done and just run off with you so she wouldn't have to kill you. And you called her a whore. Good one."

"Go to Hell." Sylar muttered.

"I would, but I know you'll be there eventually and who wants to spend eternity with your hateful ass?" Peter turned and walked into Ava's room, slamming the door behind him before sitting on the couch and turning on the television.

* * *

May 21, 1999

"How much did they pump out of her stomach?" Thompson glowered at Claude as they stood outside of Ava's hospital room.

"Enough bloody painkillers to stock a pharmacy." Claude grimaced. "Apparently she got them out of O'Roarke's medicine chest before she left his apartment." He turned to go into her room with Thompson, sighing sadly as she lay in the hospital bed. "She hasn't come around yet. The doctors say if she's not awake after twenty-four hours-"

"-I know." Thompson sighed as he looked down at her. "So much potential, ruined. I've told her and told her not to let her emotions get away from her. It's one thing to enjoy sex with your mark, it's another to fall in love with them. Stupid girl."

"She's not stupid!" Claude glared at him. "She's just a scared kid. I told you it was too soon to send her out on an assignment like this. She wasn't mature enough."

"That's why I sent you with her." Thompson glanced coolly at Claude before returning his gaze to Ava. "You were SUPPOSED to stay invisible and stay with her whenever you could. If you had been there in the apartment with her, this wouldn't have happened."

"I told you that I didn't like hearing the two of them. She told me she could handle it." Claude stared at the floor. "But you're right about one thing, I should have been there for her more. She told me she was falling for him. She told me that she was in love with him. I should have told you to sod off and pulled her out before this happened to her. Poor kid." He sat beside her and squeezed her hand gently. "Come on Ava. Wake up, Sweetie."

"She's not going to wake up." Thompson smirked. "She's in a coma and it's probably irreversible, thanks to your ineptitude! You can't even control a nineteen year old girl."

"That's enough out of you, you bastard!" Claude stood up and stomped towards Thompson. He stopped as he heard Ava moan softly behind him. "Ava?" He turned around and half-ran back to her side. Claude touched her cheek gently. "Come on, Kiddo. Wake up. You can do it."

"Claude?" Ava's eyes fluttered open as she focused on him. "What happened?"

"You took a bloody pharmacy, that's what happened. I owe you an ass-kicking when you get out of here."

"I took-?" Ava's eyes filled with tears as she remembered what happened. "I killed him." She whispered.

"I know, I'm sorry." Claude kissed her cheek. "I'm so sorry, Ava."

Ava glanced over his shoulder as Thompson smiled at her. "You." She whispered.

"It's good that you're awake!" Thompson walked over to her other side and kissed her cheek, smirking as she recoiled from him. "Welcome back, Honey. We're going to bring you back home with us soon and everything will be fine. You'll see."

"Get away from me." She whispered.

Thompson smirked at her. "I understand being upset for now, but you'll be better once you get home, with us where we can all take care of you." He winked at her and left the room.

"He's right." Claude nodded. "You're going to be just fine. Me, Thompson, Bennet, we're going to watch over you and pull you through this, you'll see." Ava began to whisper softly as Claude bent down, placing his ear to her lips. His eyes widened as he heard her words before she closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep. He sat up and glanced out of the window into the hallway, noticing that Thompson had his back to them. "No way." He looked down at Ava as she slept, then looked over at Thompson again, glaring. "Bloody bastard will pay for this." He whispered.

* * *

May 11, 2007

Ava sat at her desk, staring off into space as Niki hovered around her. "Do you need anything?" She asked.

Ava shook her head. "No. I just want to have the day off and go home."

"That sounds like a good idea." She looked up as Bennet walked into the room. "Go home, either to the farmhouse or your place in Lubbock. Get some rest. You've had a rough day."

"Is he okay?" Ava asked. "I can't go. Someone has to stay down there and keep him out of trouble."

"Peter's there. He's agreed to stay the night." Noah nodded. "He's got quite an arsenal at his disposal, Sylar won't be able to get away from him."

"Okay." Ava stood up. "I'm sorry I hit you. I was upset and-"

"-And I did a stupid thing, putting your file on that laptop. I honestly thought that maybe, if Sylar read what you've been through, he'd be more apt to go easy on you, maybe understand you better. I should have known he'd use it as ammunition against you."

Ava nodded. "I'll be back tomorrow. I'll go back down there tomorrow."

"No." Bennet shook his head. "To hell with Kane and Kaito and Angela. I'm putting a stop to this nonsense. He's an animal. He's never going to change enough to let us trust him. There's got to be another way around this prophecy without involving him and I'll find it."

"Give him another chance." Ava sighed. "He's pissed, he's hurt, he's been through a lot. Maybe without me around, he'll be more apt to cooperate." She headed towards the door. "But if you need me to come back and deal with him, I'll gladly do it. I'll help him work with you if I'm needed."

"Okay." Bennet watched as Ava left.

"So if we don't use Sylar, what next?" Niki asked.

Bennet sighed and slumped against Ava's desk. "I have no freakin' clue. Maybe Peter can convince him to work with us. If he doesn't, we're completely screwed."

* * *

She drove to the farmhouse and walked inside, making a face at the disarray the house was still in after her fight with Sylar. Sighing, she walked upstairs to the bedroom and opened a drawer in the closet. Digging around towards the very back of the drawer, she found what she was looking for. Ava began to cry as she opened the small, red velvet pouch and pulled out the black velvet box. She opened it and took the diamond ring out as she sat on the bed, sliding it on the fourth finger of her left hand. Curling up on the bed, she cried herself to sleep. 


	8. Chapter 8: Male Bonding

Chapter Eight: Male Bonding

May 11, 2007

"So, this is where you've run off to. The place you've called home for the last six months. Interesting." Ava looked up to see Angela Petrelli stroll into the farmhouse, staring at the décor with disdain. "It's so, homey."

Ava sighed and tossed down the dust rag she'd been holding. "And what do you want?"

"I was still in town. I haven't had a chance to see much of Peter since he came here and he is my favorite." Angela glanced over at Ava. "I heard that you and Sylar had a little lover's spat."

"No, we didn't have a 'lover's spat', he called me a whore, taunted me about my overdose eight years ago and I decided it was time to get away from him before I fucking killed him." Ava sighed as she turned back to the shelves in the living room and picked up the rag. "I came here to clean up and cool off."

"After you wore O'Roarke's engagement ring for a while and cried yourself to sleep." Angela smirked. "The cameras are back on line. I watched you take a little tearful nappy-poo before you got up to do some housework." She studied Ava's hands, noticing a slender silver band on the fourth finger of her left hand. "You took the engagement ring off though and put back on the ring we gave you to stand in for your wedding ring, interesting."

"And that's interesting how?" Ava asked as she continued to dust shelves.

"It's interesting that you'd put on the ring that your first adult lover was going to give you and then remove it to replace it with the ring that stood for your 'marriage' these last six months. You may still be angry with Sylar, but you're still in love with 'Aaron'. He's replace O'Roarke in your affections, I see."

"He's not real. 'Aaron' isn't real." Ava sighed.

"He was very real." Angela straightened cushions on the couch and sat down. "He's just Sylar without the murderous impulses. The question you should start asking yourself is, can you get 'Aaron' back." She smiled as Ava turned to her, eyes widening. "He's still in there, just as Sylar was in 'Aaron'. I saw the video of your fight this afternoon. You were right, what you told him." Angela nodded at Ava. "He wouldn't be so angry if he didn't care so much. You just need to simply ride out the anger and bring him back around to caring about you."

"He cared about 'Alexandra'. She's no more real than 'Aaron' was." Ava turned back to the shelves and began to polish them furiously, attacking photos and knick-knacks with vigor.

"Oh, I think 'Alexandra' was very real, don't you? You weren't acting when you were here in this house with him. I think, for the first time in many, many years, you actually showed your true self. The face you put on when you'd leave this house, the face you've worn ever since you arrived here ten years ago, THAT was the true act, wasn't it?"

"I didn't start putting on an act until Thompson-" Ava lowered her head.

Angela sighed. "What he did to you? You should have gone to Nakamura. He was furious when the truth came out about the two of you."

"Claude begged me to."

"You should have listened to him. Nakamura could have gone to Linderman quietly. They could have removed Thompson permanently without Claude and Bennet being harmed. That was the carrot Thompson dangled in front of you to keep you silent, wasn't it? He threatened to hurt your friends, men you'd grown to consider surrogate uncles or fathers, if you talked."

"Yes, it was. He said if I went over his head to Linderman, the last thing he'd do before he died was put in a call to have Claude and Noah murdered."

"Do you really think Linderman would have given him a chance?" Angela shook her head. "You put up with that man's abuse for almost nine years for nothing, you do realize that, right? You should have let Claude go to Nakamura before he attacked Thompson and ended up on the run with Bennet after him."

"And you're telling me all of this now because?" Ava finally turned to Angela, exasperated. "I can't change the past, Angela."

"I know. It's the past that's made you a very hard young woman though. You killed your friends and your first boyfriend, you killed another man you loved, returned to a man you despised, and watched as another man you cared for like a father defended you and ended up a fugitive. I would be closed off and hard too, if I were you." Angela nodded. "But it's time for you to put that all behind you. Stop blaming yourself for what happened in the past. Stop putting up walls against anyone who wants to care about you and become the woman you were in this house out in the world." Angela stood. "And become the woman that 'Aaron' fell in love with. What do you think makes Sylar angriest, that you lied about who the two of you were, or that you're lying about who you really are? There's no shame in loving someone Ava, even if he is a killer. I saw how he was with you in this house. That man did not go away."

"He thinks that I lied about loving him." Ava sighed.

"Show him that you weren't lying, then." Angela raised an eyebrow. "Or are you too hard and angry to do that?"

"He called me a whore."

"Of course he did. He was angry. We all say horrible, regretful things when we're angry, don't we? Go back to Primatech. Go back to your room there, ignore the things he says and show him through words and actions that 'Alexandra' hasn't gone anywhere." Angela winked at her as she stood up. "If you love him so damn much, fight for him and prove him wrong about you."

"I'll go back in the morning." Ava sighed. "But I'm not promising you anything. I have a temper, you know."

"I know." Angela grinned. "It's a very formidable thing. Between your love and your temper, we may end up with him on our side yet." She looked around at the house, sniffing. "I'll see myself out."

Ava sat down in a chair as Angela left, looking around the house. She closed her eyes as she thought about the days, weeks, months spent here with Sylar, and how it felt in his arms. She smiled softly and nodded to herself. "Show him that 'Alexandra' is still around and maybe 'Aaron' will return, somewhat. I'd like that." She whispered.

* * *

May 21, 1999

Ava woke up, her head pounding as she slowly sat up. It was late at night, as far as she could tell. She turned and smiled softly to see Claude passed out asleep in a chair beside her bed. She started to lie back down when Claude mumbled and woke up, grinning to see her awake. "I see you're finally lucid."

"Yeah." Ava looked around. "I came around earlier too, didn't I?"

"You did." Claude frowned. "I told Thompson to go to the hotel, insisted on it. Bennet's flying in to check on you in the morning."

"You sent Thompson to a hotel? Good." Ava sighed with relief.

"Don't worry. I don't think even a rotter like him would fuck you while you were passed out in a hotel room."

Ava turned to Claude, her eyes widening. "What did you say?"

"You told me about him, about the two of you."

"What?" Ava shook her head. "No, I didn't tell you anything."

Claude leaned forward, glaring. "When you came around earlier, you started whispering to me. You said to me 'don't let him come in here, I'm tired of him touching me. I wanted to die before I returned to him, I'm tired of him fucking me all the time, he makes me sick'. Then you passed back out."

"I was on drugs, I didn't know what I was saying." Ava shook her head violently. "Claude, Thompson has NEVER-"

"-Our boss is Kaito Nakamura. I know him well, I can talk to him. I'll tell him about what Thompson is doing to you. He has a daughter your age. Trust me Avery, if he ever had ANY idea that Thompson was forcing himself-"

"-NOTHING'S HAPPENING, OKAY?" Ava looked away, tears brimming in her eyes. "Just drop it, Claude. I was drugged, I didn't know what I was saying and Thompson has never taken advantage of me, ever."

"Why are you lying for him? Why are you covering? Do you ENJOY it?" Claude frowned. "No, you don't. I know you don't. I'm going to Nakamura, Ava."

"Don't." Ava looked over at him. "Nothing's happening and I'll deny everything."

"What does he have on you?" Claude frowned. "What is he holding over your head to force you to submit to him?"

"Nothing, because I'm not submitting." Ava looked away. "Nothing's going on. I don't know what you're talking about and I'm not discussing it further." She rolled over, turning her back to Claude as she lay back down on the hospital bed.

"You can deny it all you want, but I know something's going on. You were terrified of him when he came in here earlier. I'm going to be keeping my eye on you and on him. I'll find out what's going on, so help me and when I get the evidence, I'm going to tear him from limb to limb and then I'm going to Nakamura to have him put down. You're nineteen bloody years old." Claude stood up and left the room as Ava closed her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks.

* * *

May 11, 2007

Peter grinned as Niki brought him his dinner tray. "Want to stay in here and spend the night?" Peter winked at her. "We could get extra loud and make the neighbor crazy."

"I don't think so." Niki glanced over at the cameras. "Sex on tape with one Petrelli brother is enough."

"That wasn't you." Peter slid his hand around her waist as he kissed her. "That was Jessica."

Niki smirked at him. "Semantics. Once I merged with Jessica, her memories became mine. I remember Nathan now." She lowered her eyes as Peter kissed her neck. "I have apologized for that, right?"

"Too many times to count." Peter sighed and cradled her face in his hands. "And you never needed to apologize at all. I understand what happened. I've never blamed you for it. Stop blaming yourself." He kissed her softly. "Now, where were we?"

Niki grinned at him. "I was about to leave after bringing you dinner. We'll pick this up later after Ava returns from her snit and we're not in a room filled with cameras watching every move we make."

"So, I guess slipping off to the farmhouse is out of the question too." Peter teased.

"It's definitely out!" Niki laughed and gave Peter a quick peck on the lips. "I'll see you later. I have to get home to Micah." She turned and headed for the door.

"Hey Niki!" Peter called to her. Niki turned and stared at Peter as he smiled at her. "I love you."

"I love you too." She glanced at the door to Sylar's room. "Don't wake up missing your skull."

"I won't." Peter grinned as Niki left and sat down on the bed. He sat down on the bed and lifted the cover of his dinner tray, his smile widening as he saw the hamburger and French fries. "God, I love that woman!" He started to eat and looked up, frowning as Sylar entered the room. "What do YOU want?" He asked, his mouth filled with food.

"I'm hungry."

Peter swallowed his mouthful of food and cocked an eyebrow. "If you're talking brains, I'll kick your ass. I've been around Ava long enough to do it, too."

"I'm not talking about BRAINS!" Sylar rolled his eyes. "Where's MY dinner?"

Peter smirked as he lifted up his burger. "You mean the food that AVA always made sure to remind us to feed you? Guess you should have thought about your rumbly tumbly before you pissed her off." He took a huge bite of his dinner, grinning as Sylar seethed. He sighed as he ate his meal. "I'll call and have the techs bring you something, okay?"

"Fine." Sylar turned on his heel and stomped out of the room.

"Asshole." Peter muttered, his mouth full.

Ten minutes later, as Peter sat on the bed, smiling over his empty plate, Sylar stomped back into his room, carrying a tray. "And just what the hell is THIS?"

Peter glanced at the tray, guffawing as he spied two slices of bread and a glass of water. "I think that's dinner!"

Sylar's eyes narrowed as Peter laughed at him. He turned to the cameras, holding up his tray. "THIS ISN'T FUNNY! I swear to God, I'm am this close to melting doors, freezing asses, and TK'ing every head I fucking see unless I get a cheeseburger with everything, French fries with extra ketchup and something to drink and DON'T spit in it!" He gave Peter another withering glare as he left the room.

Peter sighed and grabbed his phone. "Okay, joke's over. Send him his real dinner, I guess what he just asked for and please don't spit in it. I have to stay in here tonight near him." He looked around for a moment. "Hey, bring me a twelve-pack of beer too. I think I'm going to need it, trapped with Pouty McWhinyPants!"

"I HEARD THAT!" Sylar yelled from the next room.

"Good! You ARE A Pouty McWhinyPants!"

"GO FIST YOURSELF!"

"YOU FIRST! EXCEPT YOU'D LIKE IT!" Peter flopped back on the bed. "This is going to be a long fucking night. Man I miss Niki."

* * *

May 23, 1999

Claude frowned as he entered Ava's hospital room, noticing how she laughed with Bennet. She hadn't spoken to him since he'd threatened to tell Kaito about his suspicions of her and Thompson. He sighed as he leaned in the doorway. "You feeling better?"

Ava glanced over at him and nodded before she turned back to Bennet. "So I'm really being released today?"

Bennet nodded. "Thompson pulled some strings. The hospital wanted you to have another psychiatric evaluation first, but he's convinced them to let you go in our care. When you get back to Texas, you're going to be checked out there." He looked sternly at her. "You're going to be evaluated very closely for a very long time."

"I know." Ava nodded. "I wasn't ready for this assignment, I see it now."

"No, you weren't." Claude sat next to her on the bed and put a fatherly arm around her shoulders. "But I should have watched you more closely. I should have gone through that apartment better and found that trap door before you got too close to Brighton. It's my fault you're in here too, Kiddo."

Ava finally spoke to Claude, looking up at him with sad eyes. "It's not your fault." She hugged him gently as Claude closed his eyes, trying not to cry. "I got too close. I wasn't ready."

"I've talked with Thompson." Bennet nodded. "We've agreed that you're not going on any more assignments like this ever, and you won't be taking any assignments period until you're psychologically cleared. You've got a long road ahead of you."

"I know." Ava smiled at Bennet and reached for his hand. "As long as I've got the two of you in my corner, the road won't be so rough."

"You'll always have us, Kid." Claude stood up and mussed her hair. "We'll always have your back, whether you want us to or not." He gave her a pointed look as he left the room.

Bennet followed him out, turning to Ava. "I'm going to get your release papers ready to go. I'll be back in a few minutes." He went to the nurses desk with Claude, studying him. "Are you going to tell me NOW why it took her two days to talk to you finally? Did you say something to upset her?"

Claude glanced over at Bennet and considered telling him his suspicions. He sighed, deciding to wait. "I just got a little rough when I fed her the riot act about taking a handful of pills and washing them down with wine over some stupid git who mistreated her, that's all. She took it rather hard."

"I'll bet she did." Bennet shook his head. "I know you don't have kids, but you have to be careful of their feelings-"

"-This coming from the man who avoids his daughter every chance he gets? How IS Claire, by the way?"

"She's fine." Bennet looked away, spotting Thompson as he strolled onto the floor and entered Ava's room. "And here he is to coddle her, spoil her and sweep her away."

Claude stared at Bennet. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means he gives her too much leeway." Bennet shook his head. "He's constantly showering her with gifts and clothes. You'd think she was-"

"-What?" Claude leaned closer to Bennet. "Girlfriend?"

Bennet turned to Claude, making a face. "God no! I was going to say you'd think she was his daughter, not his agent."

"You don't think he's too, close to her?"

"Only as close as we are." Bennet shrugged. "I shouldn't be jealous. We all spoil her rotten. She's a sweet kid, after all."

Claude stood close to the door and watched Thompson as he sat on Ava's bed. He noticed her body language and the way she shied away from him as he reached out and patted her hand. "She's a good kid." He whispered. "Too good to put up with this."

"Put up with what?" Bennet asked.

Claude glanced back at his friend, trying to hide his concern. "Too good to deal with having to kill a lover and attempt suicide. What are we doing to her?"

"We're teaching her to be an agent and to help our organization collect data on people with special abilities. We're teaching her to take care of those that are harmless or helpful, and take out the ones that could give all of you a bad name." Bennet frowned as he turned away. "I'm going to wait outside while she's discharged. I'll meet you downstairs."

"You do that." Claude turned back to the window, glaring at Thompson's back. "I'm watching you, you prick!"

Downstairs, Bennet boiled over Claude's implications that he ignored Claire. As he passed a gift shop, he stopped, noticing a teddy bear with a London sweatshirt. He smiled softly and entered the gift shop. "Maybe she could use a souvenir." He told himself as he bought the bear, smiling down at it as he imagined his daughter's reaction when he gave it to her.

* * *

May 11, 2007

"Oh come ON ump! Bad call!" Peter swigged a beer on the couch as he throw a throw pillow at the television. "BOO! BOO!"

Sylar walked into Ava's room, glaring at Peter. "What in the HELL?"

Peter turned to Sylar. "I get cranky when the umpires are blind." He turned back to the television. "Oh you SUCK!"

Sylar walked over to the couch. "Who's playing?"

Peter stared at Sylar for a moment, then shrugged. "The Yankees."

"Against?"

"Who cares? All other teams suck!" He threw up his arms as the umpire made another call. "Oh get some glasses you blind bastard!"

"I like the Yankees." Sylar said quietly.

"You probably like TO yankee, which you'll be doing a lot of now that you've run Ava off." Peter took another pull off of his beer and rolled his eyes. "Wanna watch the game?"

Sylar nodded and jumped onto the couch, grabbing a beer. "Hell yeah!"

Peter looked at the beer. "I didn't say you could drink with me."

Sylar gave Peter a warning glare. "I'm calmer and less likely to go on killing sprees after a couple of beers."

Peter sighed as Mac ran into the room and jumped on the couch between them, his tail wagging happily. "Fine. Whatever, just don't interrupt my game."

"I won't." Sylar kicked back and grinned as the game continued, drinking beer with Peter as Mac curled up beside him.

* * *

"Okay, so honestly." Peter stretched out on the floor as Sylar belched on the couch. Mac was curled up on his stomach and empty beer bottles surrounded them. "Which pisses you off more, that she lied about who you both were, or that you fell for her?"

"Both of them piss me off equally." Sylar mumbled. "Women suck!"

"Not all of them. Niki's great." Peter sighed. "She's HOT!"

"Niki. She's the blond that dragged Ava out of my room today, right?" Peter nodded drunkenly. "Why does she look so familiar?"

"Because she bitch slapped you with a parking meter in Kirby Plaza."

"Oh yeah!" Sylar laughed. "I remember her. She's hot!"

"Hey!" Peter sat up. "Keep your eyes to yourself man! She's mine!"

"Oh please!" Sylar sighed. "Like I'd go for a woman that kicked my ass."

"You're going for Ava." Peter mumbled. "Deny it all you want, but I can read your mind. You want her with you right now."

"Yeah, to kill her."

"Nuh-uh." Peter smirked. "You want to kiiiiissss her. You want to-" He made a face. "Okay I just read way to much, Dude. Keep those pervy thoughts to yourself, damn!" He lay back on the floor. "We're seriously drunk."

"Yep." Sylar giggled. "We're wasted!"

"Admit it, you want Ava. You still love her."

"I love 'Alexandra'. Ava was just acting around me."

"I don't think so." Peter shook his head. "I'm too drunk to lie to you. When she'd come to work, she was always thinking about you. She might have gone by a different name with you, but that's the only thing that was different. She would think about how handsome you were, and how sweet you were, and how sexy you were. She would think about all the naughty little things she'd do to you when she got home." He sat up for a moment. "Is it true she called you her 'Little Gladiator'?"

Sylar grinned. "That's what she called a part of me, yep! She said it was like a Centurion, it could fight all night."

"Gross." Peter flopped back down on the floor. "We need more beer."

"Yeah we do." Sylar mumbled.

* * *

Ava arrived at Primatech and made her way into the OWI. She went to the A/V room and frowned at Niki and Candice. "So why did you two call me in here? I was about to go to bed."

Candice started giggling as Niki pointed her to a monitor. "You've got to see this for yourself to believe it, trust me."

Ava stared at the monitor and gasped. "Are they DRUNK?"

"Drunker than Cooter Brown." Candice giggled.

"Why were you two here?" Ava asked.

Candice and Niki exchanged guilty looks. "Um, we were just checking in on them?" Candice mumbled.

"Yeah, totally." Niki nodded, trying to look innocent.

Ava noticed a DVD beside them, marked April 3, 2007. "What were you really watching?"

"Nothing!" They chimed together.

Ava shook her head. "I don't want to know, do I?"

"Not if you ever want to look us in the eye again, no." Niki smirked.

Ava stared at the monitor. "Turn up the sound."

Niki turned up the sound and started laughing as Peter and Sylar started singing together off-key, swigging beer as they listened to Ava's Ipod.

_"This bed is on fire with passionate love_

_The neighbors complain about the noises above_

_But she only comes when she's on top"_

"Well, we know two boys who won't be finalists on American Idol." Niki sighed as she turned back to Ava. "You ready to go back down there? I think I have a drunken Taylor Hicks wannabe to take home."

Ava nodded slowly. "Turn the sound back down. They're scaring the hell out of me and I'll NEVER be able to hear that song again. So much for loving Matt Nathanson from now on."

She made her way down to the cells with Niki and Candice wincing at the loud, off-key singing echoing down the halls. As they opened the door, Mac started barking happily and ran to Ava. Sylar turned and smirked. "Jig's up! The 'wife' is home!"

Peter turned and sat up. "Hey! It's Niki and Ava and Candice." He frowned. "And they're all twins?"

"No, you're just seeing double because you're drunk." Niki laughed as she walked over to him and helped him up. "Some babysitter you are."

"Candice?" Sylar purred as he studied the younger woman. "Ooooh, Peter says you've got a crush on me."

Candice gasped and blushed. "I do NOT!"

"He said you like to sneak into the A/V room and watch the homemade porn this group made of me and Ava or Lexie or whatever her name is." Sylar winked lasciviously. "Like looking at the 'Little Gladiator' in action, huh?"

"SYLAR!" Ava gasped. She turned to Candice. "Is THAT what you and Niki were doing tonight?"

Candice blanched. "I'll see you guys later." She quickly turned and left the room.

"Hey, don't go Baby!" Sylar laughed. "I think you're hot! I wanna make my 'wife' jealous!" He shrugged and turned to Ava. "Wanna join the Yankees? I know something you can yankee." He winked at her.

"Ugh!" Ava made a face as Niki helped Peter stumble towards the door. "I'll see you guys in the morning."

"Definitely." Niki shook her head as she ushered Peter out of the room.

"HEY PETE!" Sylar raised his hand. "Yankees are playing again tomorrow night. We're on, right?"

"DUDE!" Peter raised his hand in acknowledgement as Niki shoved him out the door.

Ava groaned as she closed the door and turned, gasping to see Sylar hovering in front of her. "What?" She made a face as Sylar leaned down and began to kiss her sloppily. "EW! Get off me, you stink of beer and b.o.!"

"Oh come ON!" Sylar moaned as Ava stepped past him. "Okay, I'm sorry for calling you a whore, okay?"

Ava glared at him. "Take a shower, get some sleep, we'll talk in the morning."

"I'd rather talk now." Sylar slowly walked towards her, his eyes scanning her body as he ran his tongue over his lips. "Or not. Actually, I'd rather not talk at all. I'd rather just-" He reached out and began to grope her.

Ava twisted away from him. "Take a shower and go to bed, dammit!" She glared at him.

"Fine!" Sylar slowly pulled his clothes off, smirking as Ava's eyes traveled over his naked body. "See something you like?"

"Not when it smells like beer and skunk!" Ava crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"It won't smell for long." Sylar smirked as he stumbled into the bathroom.

As soon as she heard the shower, Ava quickly grabbed Mac and took him outside for a walk. When she returned, her eyes widened to find Sylar already in bed. She set the dog down and walked to the bed, sitting on the edge. "You're in the wrong bed, Sylar." She nudged him and he moaned drunkenly, rolling away from her. "Oh for crying out loud." She sighed as she got up and grabbed her pajamas. She quickly undressed and pulled them on before climbing into bed. She lifted the sheets and rolled her eyes. "Naked as the day he was born. Damn he's drunk." She lay back and rolled over, her back to him as she punched a pillow. "And too drunk to do anything but sleep." She muttered as she dozed off.


	9. Chapter 9: Kane's Crimes

Chapter Nine: Kane's Crimes

May 12, 2007

Sylar slowly opened his eyes, grimacing as the throbbing pain in his nose was now joined by a screaming pounding in his temples. He smacked his lips, groaning at the dry, furry feeling on his tongue as he slowly sat up. As his eyes adjusted to the lack of light in the room, he spotted the empty beer bottles scattered along the floor. "Fucking Petrelli." He moaned softly, hissing at the pain his voice caused in his head. He turned, realizing there was someone lying beside him, and sighed with relief to see it was a woman. "Good thing that we didn't get that drunk." He muttered, wincing as pain sliced through his head again. His relief quickly gave way to dismay and anger as he realized the woman beside him was Ava. "Okay," he whispered as quietly as he could to himself "just how drunk DID I get last night?"

"Not THAT drunk!" Ava opened her eyes and sat up as Sylar recoiled, clutching his head. "Oh, I'm sorry, does your head hurt after getting completely and totally shit-faced last night?"

"Keep it down." He hissed.

"WHY?" Ava raised her voice as Sylar moaned in pain. He lay back on the bed, bunching a pillow around his head to muffle the sound of her voice. "Poor baby. I guess I shouldn't talk too loudly, huh? You had such a busy night with Peter, drinking beer, watching the game, butchering what was one of my favorite songs."

"What did WE do?" Sylar mumbled.

"Nothing. I came in with Niki, she took Peter home, and I stayed. You came on to me in a very sloppy, drunken manner. I turned you down and I told you to put your smelly ass in the shower. When I came back from walking Mac, you were naked, wet and passed out in my bed. At least you were clean though."

"So what did we do?" Sylar glanced over at her before lifting up the sheets to judge that he was still naked. "You couldn't dress me?"

"If you were too drunk to put your plum smugglers on, I'm certainly not going to do it. As for what WE did, I slept and you were in a drunken, snoring coma."

"So we didn't-"

Ava snorted. "-Oh please! First of all, you were too drunk to do anything. Second of all, I don't do drunken men, even if they can get it up because I like for a man to remember where he's been and finally, I'm still too pissed at you to throw you one even if you WOULD have been able to perform." She smirked. "I considered giving you a really bad haircut, but Bennet says you're a little touchy about that."

"You could say that." Sylar slowly inched off of the bed, wrapping a sheet around his waist as he stumbled towards the bathroom.

"Why are you so shy?" Ava laughed softly. "You were more than eager to get naked in front of me last night. Besides, it's not like I haven't seen it before." She shook her head, grinning as Sylar gave her a dirty look, then closed the bathroom door. She turned to Mac as the dog jumped onto the bed, wagging his tail. "Daddy's a little touchy this morning, isn't he?" She sighed as she climbed out of bed and grabbed a leash for Mac. "Let's go for a walk while Daddy hugs his new best friend, the toilet."

* * *

June 10, 1999

Thompson sat in the A/V room, watching as Claude slowly did his paperwork at his desk. Grinding his teeth, he looked at his watch, sighing as he realized how late it was getting. "Cockblocking bastard knows something." He muttered.

Ever since Ava had returned from London, Claude had dogged the both of them, especially Ava during the day. Any time she was called into Thompson's office, Claude would find a reason to come in constantly and interrupt and after Bennet had gone home, Claude would continue to stay and work at his desk, which Thompson would just happen to pass if he wanted to slip over to Ava's room. Thompson KNEW Claude was up to something and wondered if Ava had told him anything about their relationship. "Little bitch better not have blabbed, she knows what'll happen if she does." He growled.

He finally stood up, checking his watch again as he cursed. His wife would be expecting him home soon. He wouldn't have time to pay Ava a little 'visit' before leaving, something he'd been aching to do since she'd returned. He turned to glance at the monitors again, sneering at Claude before switching over to watch Ava's room. She was curled up in a ball on her bed crying, over that O'Rourke bastard, he had no doubt.

Thompson smirked at the monitor. "Keep crying little girl, and I'll give you something to cry about. He wasn't worth it." He turned and left the room, passing Claude's desk on the way out. "Raines, working late again, I see."

Claude looked up at him, plastering a polite smile on his face. "Just making sure all of the reports from London are ship-shape. Heading out for the night?"

"Of course." Thompson nodded. "Amy's going to wonder where I am before long."

"She's a good woman, no sense in keeping her waiting." Claude nodded to Thompson. "Good night."

"Goodnight, Claude." Thompson's jaw twitched as he ground his teeth more on the way out of the building. He turned to glance at it on his way out. He'd have to find some way to get Ava alone, he needed her.

After Thompson left, Claude rolled his eyes as he stood up and stretched. "I hope they're turning blue you fucking pedophile." He walked into the A/V room, his expression softening as he saw that Ava was crying on her bed. "Poor kid." He sighed. "At least I'm keeping Thompson off of you. That helps a bit, I hope." He nodded as he turned and left the building for the night, waving to the night shift techs as they entered the building for the evening.

* * *

May 12, 2007

Ava returned to find Sylar sitting on the bed, waving his hands as beer bottles flew and landed in a garbage bag that was open and hovering in the air. She grinned. "Cute trick. I should have let you clean the house more when we were 'married'."

"Glad you like it." Sylar groaned as the last bottle landed in the back with a clink. He waved his hand and moved the bag to a corner of the room, tying it closed with a flick of his fingers. He lay back on the bed with a pitiful moan as Mac jumped onto the bed and began to lick his face. "Not now, Short Stuff." He whispered, gently setting the dog back onto the ground.

"Poor baby. See what happens when you drink too much?" Ava shook her head.

Sylar opened one eye to glare at her. "You're loving this, aren't you?"

"Not enough to completely let you suffer." She held out the tray in her hands as Sylar began to turn green. "Oh enough with that! I brought you some dry toast, ginger ale and some aspirin for the headache."

"I don't want it." Sylar closed his eyes.

"Don't be such a baby. It'll settle your stomach." Ava set the tray down on the bedside table and swatted Sylar playfully on the thigh. "I see you managed to put some boxer shorts on."

"Didn't want to give you a peep show." He muttered.

"Really?" Ava glanced at him. "Then you shouldn't be sprawled like that. The mouse is trying to get out of the house." She giggled as Sylar sat up and grimaced, adjusting his shorts. "Now that you're sitting up-" She held out the drink and aspirin. "Take it."

Sylar sighed and quickly swallowed the aspirin, washing it down with a sip of ginger ale as Ava sat on the bed. With a whimper, he flopped back down, smirking as his head landed in her lap. "Get up." He moaned.

"I can't. I have something in my lap."

Sylar shrugged. "Fine, stay there then." He frowned as Ava began to rub his temples, her hands gently kneading his head. "You don't have to do that."

"Shut up." Ava whispered. "Remember New Year's Eve?"

"Yeah." Sylar nodded slightly. "We stayed in, drank two bottles of champagne and I ended up passed out in my bed all night."

"And the next morning when I came into your room, you were like this, miserable and sick." Ava's fingers began to knead the back of his skull, moving to the nape of his neck. Sylar sighed as he relaxed under her fingers, smiling softly. "This helped you then, too."

"That was the first time I realized that I wanted to make love to you. I decided that day that I wanted to move you out of the guest room and into the master bedroom with me. It just took me a month of being scared and nervous around you to finally come into your room at night and tell you what I wanted." The corners of his mouth turned down. "You were doing that just to seduce me, weren't you?"

"No." Ava shook her head as her hands moved to his shoulders, loosening the knots there. "When I took this assignment, I had no intention whatsoever of sleeping with you. I figured that since you had amnesia, you wouldn't want to jump into bed with anyone, whether they said you were married or not. I was surprised as hell when you came into my room and climbed into my bed with me."

"Surprised?" Sylar rolled over and pillowed his cheek on her thighs, sighing contentedly as her hands began to massage his back. "You have looked in a mirror lately, right? Why WOULDN'T I have wanted you in my bed?"

"Because you didn't know me."

"I got to know you." Sylar shrugged. "Or at least, I thought I knew you. I thought you were my wife and that what I wanted was natural. I always wondered what you saw in me, even before I realized who I really was."

"Have YOU looked in a mirror lately?" Ava chuckled. "You do realize that, when you're not battered, green and stubbly, you're hot as hell, right?"

"No I'm not." Sylar murmured. "If that were true, women would have been all over me in New York City when I was growing up. I repelled them."

"I don't see that." Ava shook her head. "I read your file, including pictures of you. You were very handsome then as you are now."

"I was a dorky timepiece repairman. I wore glasses and sweater vests. I was a nerd."

"Oh hush." Ava's hands glided over his back as she massaged him. "Some of my best friends in high school were total nerds and a lot of them were very cute."

"Says the homecoming queen slash cheerleader who dated the Big Man on Campus."

"And look where that got me. He cheated on me, I freaked out and decimated my prom. Yeah, he was a definite catch. I would have been better off with one of the 'nerds'. They were decent guys, through and through."

"Until you killed them." Sylar muttered.

"I didn't kill them." Ava sighed. "I was Miss Popularity. That's why I was at the prom, along with the rest of the spoiled, popular 'haves'. The 'nerds' stayed home-"

"-probably watching Star Trek-"

"-which I secretly envied them for. I think I would have had a better time and a happier life if I'd stayed home that night with my nerdy friends watching Star Trek, than going to the prom of doom."

"Because being popular was sooooo hard." Sylar sat up, staring at Ava. "You're doing it again, aren't you?"

Ava frowned at him. "Doing WHAT?"

"Seducing me, AGAIN!" Sylar got up, glaring at her. "You're rubbing my back and shoulders, knowing how much I like it while trying to get into my head and making me think that someone like you would have EVER gone for someone like me if she didn't have this organization breathing down her neck to do it."

"I am NOT!" Ava stood up, looking up at Sylar as he glared down at her angrily. She matched him, fiery look for fiery look. "I was massaging your back and shoulders because you don't feel well and I wanted to make you feel better, and I was telling you the truth about myself, my life, and how I felt about YOU! If you're so damned insecure to think that the only reason I'd ever be interested in you is because of this organization, then you can just go to hell!"

"I'm IN hell as long as I'm anywhere near you!" Sylar stomped towards the door to his room. "Don't talk to me, don't try to bond with me and don't even try and tell me that you want me for me, because we BOTH know that's a damn lie! The only reason we met is because you were paid to pretend to be my wife and the only reason you slept with me was to keep me happy!"

"Bull SHIT!" Ava stomped towards Sylar, her hands balled into fists. "We met because I was told to pretend to be your wife, that much IS true, but I did NOT sleep with you to keep you happy! I slept with you because I wanted you!" Ava glared up at him. "If I'd wanted to, I could have thought of every reason in the world to hold you at bay, to keep you out of my room, but I didn't do it. I didn't sleep with you because I was ordered to, I slept with you because you turned me on and I wanted you as much as you wanted me, that's ALL! I slept with you because I fell for you, okay?" Her eyes narrowed as Sylar began to breathe hard, his eyes burning into hers. "So what are you going to do now, try to hit me again? DO IT! I will kick your ass all over this building if you try." As Sylar continued to stare down at her, Ava punched him in the arm. "GO AHEAD! DO IT!"

She gasped as Sylar grabbed her by her shoulders and crushed his lips against hers. Whimpering in pain as their injured noses bumped against each other, Ava wrapped her arms around Sylar's neck as he lifted her up and wrapped her legs around his waist. Mac barked and jumped off of the bed he'd just jumped onto, running into Sylar's room, as Sylar twitched his fingers, bringing the bed across the room to them with a screech. Ava moaned as his hands slid under her tank top, his fingers digging into her back before he pulled it off of her and tossed it across the room. As he eased her onto the bed, his lips traveled down her breasts and belly, kissing her as he pulled her pajama bottoms off. Sylar slid up to join Ava, his lips crushing against hers, both of them ignoring the pain of their battered faces as he braced his hands on either side of her head. Ava struggled to pull his boxer shorts off as her legs wrapped around his waist again, gently moaning his name as he kissed her neck. "I love you so much." She whispered in his ear.

She felt him stiffen above her, his lips stopped moving along her neck, frozen at her collarbone. Ava slowly opened her eyes as Sylar raised his head to look at her. "What did you say?" He whispered.

Ava touched his cheek, hearing the rasp of stubble as she kissed his forehead. "I said that I love you." She frowned as Sylar quickly stood up, his expression unreadable as he flicked her clothes back at her and shoved the bed back against the wall with a wave of his hand. Ava sat up, clutching her clothes to her body as Sylar slowly walked out of the room, his head lowered, his shoulders hunched forward. "WHAT?" Sylar didn't respond as he slammed the door behind him. Ava cursed as she pulled her clothes back on, glaring as her cell phone began to ring. Flipping it open, she unleashed her frustration into the caller. "WHAT IS IT?" She snapped.

"First of all, don't take my head off like that. Second of all, please don't yell, my head is killing me." Peter's voice was strained and nervous. "What crawled up your ass and died?"

"Nothing, sorry." Ava lay back on the bed. "I'm just very, very frustrated, that's all."

"Then you won't want to hear this. Bennet's called a meeting, he wants everyone in the conference room now."

"Why?" Ava sat up and climbed off of the bed, heading to a chest of drawers to grab some clothes.

"Kane's been spotted. He's here, in Texas. The meeting's in ten minutes. Bring Sylar if you can."

"Good luck with that. I'll see you then." Ava snapped her phone shut and quickly got dressed. She hesitated as she headed towards the door, then sighed as she turned and walked to Sylar's door, knocking on it. "Sylar. Peter just called. He needs us BOTH to come upstairs for a meeting. I know you have to have read that file about Kane by now." She listened, hearing nothing. She knocked again. "Sylar? Kane's here, he's in Texas. You NEED to come to this meeting!" She started to open the door and cursed as it was quickly slammed again from the inside. "Sylar, PLEASE!" She rested her forehead against the door for a moment, touching it with the palm of her hand. "We need you, okay? Please come out so we can go to this meeting. You don't have to look at me or talk to me, but you need to come and hear this." She pressed her ear against the door and shook her head. "I'll send your regrets. Listen and see if you can hear us." She looked sadly at the door and turned, walking out of her room.

In his cell, Sylar stood behind the screen, splashing himself with ice-cold water from the sink as his mind raced. _She says she loves me, but she doesn't mean it. She just wants me to join with THEM to kill this Kane person. She doesn't love me, she's using me._ He closed his eyes, trying to forget the memory of the way she felt in his arms, the way her hands felt on his back and her legs felt around his waist. He shook his head and placed his fingers under the water, concentrating on his cryokinesis power as the cold water began to spray his body, covering him in half-frozen droplets to cool down his passions and clear his mind. Sylar shivered under the icy water, as he pushed the thoughts of Ava into the back of his mind. _She's just using you, remember that. She doesn't love you, you don't love her, she is a liar. Stop thinking about her, stop wanting her now, dammit!_

* * *

June 11, 1999

Thompson swore under his breath as he spotted Claude's car in the parking lot of Primatech. He checked his watch, his eyes narrowing. It was four a.m. Claude was onto him now, he knew it. Climbing out of his car, he slammed the door behind him as he stomped into the building and entered his office, barely acknowledging Claude with a grunt before he shut his office door and began to pace behind it. After a few minutes, he sat down at his desk and started to go through his emails. Finally, he grabbed his phone, dialing it. Ava answered the phone groggily and he immediately started hissing at her. "What did you tell Raines, you little bitch?"

Ava sat up quickly in her bed, her heart pounding. "Nothing!"

"Then, tell me WHY he's here at four a.m.? Why does he look like he's been here most of the night? Why was he here most of last night before I finally gave up and went home? Why does he follow you around the building constantly and even follow you into my office when I call and ask for you and you specifically? He knows something, doesn't he?"

"No, I swear." Ava ran her fingers through her hair nervously. "I haven't said anything."

"Are you sleeping with HIM now? You are, aren't you? You'd do O'Rourke and then go back to your apartment and do Claude, right? You two had a lot of fun in London, didn't you?"

"NO!" Ava stood up and began to pace the room. "I have never slept with Claude. He's like a brother to me."

"Then he knows something." Thompson's hand clenched around the phone. "You will find a way to get him out of this office after hours, you will find a way to come to my office ALONE and you will scratch my itch, do you understand me?"

Ava shuddered at the manic sound in Thompson's voice as she nodded. "I understand. How do I get away from him?"

"FIGURE IT OUT!" He slammed the phone down angrily and stared off into space. "Stupid little girl." He muttered. "Liar. She's a liar. She told Raines something, probably everything." He began to go through old files, searching through them and finally found what he was looking for. He smiled as he nodded. "Gotcha." He whispered.

A few hours later, he looked up smiling as Ava walked into his office, a miserable expression on his face. His smile grew wider as Claude, her constant shadow as of late, entered the room immediately behind her. "I called you both in here because I have great news for both of you!"

Ava's eyes widened. "You called us both?"

"Of course I did!" He handed Ava a folder and a set of keys. "All yours, Honey."

Ava stared at the folder. "What's this?"

"THIS is your new apartment! It's in Lubbock, just like I promised you. It's time for you to spread your wings a bit. You've earned it."

"I'm moving out of Primatech?" Ava glanced through the folder, her eyes widening as she looked at the photographs of the apartment. "Thanks." She mumbled.

"No thanks necessary, it was time. You deserve a little independence, don't you think?" He beamed as Ava nodded, not meeting his eyes. He turned to Claude and handed him a folder. "And THIS is for you."

"What is this?" Claude began to flip through the folder warily.

"Your next assignment!" Thompson smirked. "I'm sending you and Bennet to collect this guy, Tomas Diego. We had operatives tracking him, but he disappeared in Majorca in early May. We haven't seen him since." Thompson cocked his head to the side. "While you were in London, you took a side trip and tracked some of O'Roarke's colleagues to Majorca in early May, didn't you?"

Claude nodded. "I did."

"Interesting." Thompson grinned at him. "You were there, Diego disappeared, I'm surprised you didn't run into him there." He shrugged. "Oh well. I'm sending you and Bennet to Majorca tomorrow morning to try and track him down. His power is potentially harmful, he has empathic mimicry. He can copy another person's powers just by being in close proximity to them and continue to use those powers later. He needs to be brought in, tagged and analyzed."

"I'd love to go, but-" Claude glanced over at Ava, who looked away.

"-Oh, don't worry about our little Avery!" Thompson got up from behind his desk and walked over to her, putting a protective arm around her shoulders. "You and Noah have really outdone yourselves these last few weeks in keeping tabs on her and taking care of her, you especially. I'm going to give you both a break from that and take care of our girl myself for a while. I haven't spent any time with her to talk and bond since you both came back and you and Noah need some time away from her, don't you think?"

A muscle in Claude's jaw twitched as he studied Ava and Thompson together. She looked like she wanted to recoil from his touch as his hand brushed her shoulder softly. He nodded. "Yeah, I think so. We could use a break from her. I'm sure Ava would agree, wouldn't you?" He looked into her hazel eyes as she lifted them to meet his. "Would you rather Bennet and I BOTH leave and let Thompson take care of you for a while?" He watched as she struggled to speak, her eyes welling with tears before she finally lowered them and barely nodded.

"I'll be fine." She whispered. "Go."

"Then it's settled!" Thompson slid his arm from around Ava's shoulders, his fingers gliding along her back as he walked away from her and sat back down at his desk. "You and Noah are off to Majorca tomorrow and I'll stay here to take care of our little Avery." He beamed at her as she shuddered slightly and stared at the floor. "I'll even help her move into her new place."

"That's just, lovely." Claude turned and stomped out of the office. He sat at his desk as Ava walked past, her head lowered. He could see the tears streaming down her face as she trudged past him before rounding a corner. As he fought to stay seated, he heard her footsteps as she ran down the hall to her room.

Ava entered her room and closed the door. She leaned against the door and slowly slid down until she was sitting on the floor. "They're leaving me alone with Him." She began to shake as she buried her face in her knees, sobbing as she shook her head. "God help me."

* * *

May 12, 2007

Peter looked up from his seat in the conference room as Ava walked inside and quickly sat down. He looked around. "Where's Sylar?"

"He's not coming." She muttered.

Peter frowned as Niki, Mohinder, Candice, Matt, Noah, Angela and Kaito entered the room. "What do you mean he's not coming?"

Ava glared at him. "Did I stutter?" She rolled her eyes and looked away as Peter studied her, cocking his head to the side. She turned back to him, her eyes sparkling angrily. "What?"

"Just give him time. Apparently you two took one step forward and two back, huh?"

"Stop reading my mind." She snapped as she turned away again.

Bennet stared at them for a moment before he cleared his throat and looked around the room. "May I have everyone's attention please?" He nodded to himself as everyone turned to him. "As you are all well aware, Kane has been spotted here in Texas, undoubtedly looking for both Hiro Nakamura as well as the others discussed in the prophecy. You've all been told his history, albeit in a quick overview. Now it's time to discuss our beliefs, as far as Kane is concerned." Bennet turned as a digital screen descended behind him. He pressed a remote in his hand as pictures began to appear on the screen.

"The first appearance that we know of Kane was in seventeenth century Japan. He was posing as a warrior wanting to bring together the nation. That is when Hiro Nakamura met him after teleporting from the incident in Kirby Plaza last November. According to Hiro, he originally thought Kane was Kensei, his idol. He later discovered that Kane was a vain, lazy man who only wanted glory and power. It turns out that Hiro was the true Kensei, a man who unified Japan and became one of the greatest heroes and legends of the nation. Kane was incensed with Hiro for this."

Peter nodded. "Which is why he killed Kimiko."

"We'll get to that." Bennet nodded. "Apparently Kane's original power was longevity. We have no idea how old he truly is, but the pictures that Hiro has seen of him recently prove that, in over three hundred years, he's only aged a few physically. He could be thousands of years old, as far as we know. When Hiro knew him, he seemed to have obtained the power of persuasion, which is how he was able to rally most of Japan behind him. Hiro somehow was able to overcome that power as he went behind Kane, completing the feats that later would be attributed to Kensei. He also found a way to prove that Kane was a fraud to the people of Japan. They ran him out of the country in shame. Kane never forgave Hiro for that. We know that he realized that Hiro was from the future, so we believe that he bided his time and waited for Hiro. While he waited, he continued to collect other powers, as well as go on multiple killing sprees."

"Killing sprees?" Candice's eyes widened.

"Yes." Noah turned to the screen and hit a button on his remote. "Who here has heard of Jack the Ripper?" He turned to everyone and nodded. "Oh yes, we do believe that Kane was that individual." He pointed to a picture on the screen. "This is a photograph from a Victorian newspaper at the time of the murders, of the police investigating the crimes." Bennet pointed to a man in a bowler hat, hidden away in the crowds as he clicked his remote. The digital screen zeroed in on the man's face, blowing it up to the full size of the screen. A slender blond man with a blond moustache, bowler hat and black overcoat was staring intensely at the police. "Look familiar?"

"Kane." Niki whispered. She stared at Bennet. "You honestly think he was Jack the Ripper?!?"

"Yes, we do. Serial killers are notorious for returning to the scenes of their crimes during investigations, to gloat privately. As you can see, Kane is no exception."

Ava shook her head. "Those prostitutes that were killed, did any of them have powers, that we know of?"

"No." Bennet raised his eyebrows at Ava. "We theorize that he's spent the last three hundred years, when he's not obtaining powers, practicing."

"For?" Ava took a deep breath.

Bennet smiled coldly. "For all of you and how to dispose of you." He nodded and turned back to the screen, pressing another button. "Chicago, 1893, would anyone like to tell me what happened there?" He glanced around the room and nodded, pressing his remote. "First of all, the World's Exposition Fair was going on, but also, a serial killer was discovered soon afterwards, a man named H.H. Holmes. Holmes built a three-story building in Chicago, used as a hotel and for shops. The third floor however, hid a horrifying secret. It was a labyrinthine maze that Holmes used to murder victims he lured there. The floor was filled with soundproof chambers that he used to asphyxiate his victims. Afterwards he sent their bodies to the basement through a chute where he dissected them, stripped them to the bone and sold those bones to medical schools. The rest of the remains he cremated and threw into a lime pit." Bennet clicked his remote, showing a picture of the fair. He pointed to a man in a crowd. "This is Holmes. He later confessed to the murders. Do you see the man standing beside him?" He magnified the picture, showing the same man that was seen in the Jack the Ripper investigation photo. "Kane. We believe that he had Holmes in his thrall."

"His Renfield." Mohinder whispered.

"Exactly. He let Holmes take the fall for those murders. After he disappeared, Holmes went on his own killing spree before he was finally caught, tried and executed in 1896. Before his death, he tried to tell people that he was innocent and also that he had been possessed by Satan. I think we all know who really possessed him, don't we?" He looked up as the door to the conference room opened, his eyes widening as Sylar slowly walked into the room. "You're late. I'm sure you've already heard what we've been discussing, so take a seat." Sylar nodded silently and sat as far from Ava as he could, ignoring the inquisitive looks from Matt and Peter. Bennet turned back to the screen. "We believe that Kane continued to commit murders throughout the world and mainly here in the United States, pinning the blame on others. We also wonder if, perhaps, some of Sylar's victims actually belonged to Kane." He glanced over at Sylar. "I'll go over the list I received from the FBI of your supposed victims with you later. You can tell me which are yours and which aren't. We believe the two of you used the same M.O., for the most part."

"Their brains were removed?" Sylar asked softly.

"There have been reports of people found dead, minus their skulls and brains long before you started up, yes." Bennet nodded. "When he wasn't killing for his practice and hobby, he was killing to obtain more powers."

Peter stared at the screen. "What other serial killings do you think Kane took part in?"

Bennet glanced at him. "There were three other famous sets of serial killings that we highly suspect can be attributed to Kane, mainly because in researching the crime photos, he was always seen in the crowds when the police made announcements or were photographed investigating the crimes themselves." He turned to the screen. "The Boston Strangler. Albert De Salvo confessed to the crimes, but even though he was convicted, many doubt that he was the actual culprit. As you can see by this crime investigation photo here" he clicked his remote to bring up a photograph and magnified a man in the crowd "Kane was always around to gloat as bodies were brought out of the buildings." In the picture, Kane's hair was short, and he was dressed in a nondescript business suit. "We also believe that he was the Zodiac Killer." He brought up a photograph of the police investigating the crime scene. Kane was seen in the crowd with a bushy beard and mustache, his hair longer. He was dressed in a tie-dyed shirt and jeans. "And we think the Il Mostro murders were by his hand as well, since he was seen in Italy in this photo from the last known murders in 1985." He showed a crime investigation photo from Italy. Kane was dressed in an expensive looking three-piece suit, his blond hair slicked back as he smirked at the police from the crowd. "A man named Pietro Pacciani was accused of the murders, but never convicted. We think he was one of Kane's many patsies that fell under his thrall. We also wonder if he may have had a hand in the Son of Sam murders, since they fit his M.O."

"What IS his M.O.?" Candice's voice quavered nervously.

"Mainly? Crimes against women, where their bodies are horribly mutilated, probably in anger over the Japanese princess who chose Hiro over him. Also, in the case of the Zodiac Murders, Il Mostro, and Son of Sam, the murder victims were, many times, couples."

"Symbolizing Hiro and the princess." Peter nodded.

"Exactly." Bennet sighed. "And his latest victim, that we know of was personal indeed, to all of us." He glanced over at Kaito. "If you'd like to leave the room while I show this-"

Kaito stared at everyone stoically. "I had to identify what was left of my daughter. I want to be here for this discussion."

Bennet nodded sadly as he pressed a button on his remote control. Everyone, including Sylar, gasped in horror at the violent crime scene photographs that popped onto the screen. "Kimiko Nakamura's body was found by her assistant Kazuo Shamiko on November 10, 2006 after Kimiko failed to report to work at Nakamura Industries. Kane was seen in photos of the crowd that gathered as the police brought her body out of her home. He left a message for Hiro at the scene, a pendant that he'd once tried to give the princess as well as Japanese characters written in blood, translating to the words 'you and your friends are next'. Hiro identified it. It was his calling card for Hiro, letting him and the rest of us know that he's on his way to find us all and destroy us before we can fulfill the prophecy and destroy him."

Bennet turned off the screen and turned to everyone as the lights that had dimmed at the beginning of his presentation began to slowly come back up. "We are dealing with a psychopath who has had well over three hundred years to prepare for this battle. We don't know what powers he's been able to obtain over the years, but we know it must be a formidable arsenal. We can assume, that along with longevity and persuasion, he's also been able to obtain the power to create a vacuum against sound. Kimiko's home was in a very heavily populated district of Tokyo. No one heard a thing the night of the murder, even though she must have suffered horribly. He obviously muffled the sound of her screams with his powers. We can also assume that he's been investigating the Nakamura family and their connections. We believe that he's recently discovered Kaito's association with Primatech and the OWI."

"Why do you believe that?" Candice asked softly.

Bennet pressed his lips together for a moment as he took off his glasses. "We've been using satellite uplinks and current technologies to try and track Kane using traffic cameras and facial recognition software. We've been using that since Kimiko's murder. Yesterday afternoon, we got a hit. Kane was spotted driving through Dallas, heading west."

"Heading here." Peter breathed.

"We think so." Bennet put his glasses back on and looked at everyone sternly. "So now it's time for all of you to begin training and honing your skills. It is prophesied that you six" he pointed to Ava, Candice, Niki, Sylar, Peter and Matt "along with Hiro and Claire are the ones who will defeat him. It's time to live up to that prophecy."

"And if we refuse?" Sylar glared at Bennet. "Why should I help all of you after everything you've done?"

Bennet turned to him, his expression stony. "Because if you don't, Kane WILL find you and he WILL kill you. It's time to work together, or die alone." He stared Sylar down until the younger man looked away, shaken.

Matt looked around the room. "So where has Hiro been since he returned from Japan?"

Bennet smiled. "Hiding in plain sight with Ando" his smile widened "and an old friend."

Everyone followed Bennet's gaze as he stared at the opposite wall. Peter gasped as Hiro and Ando materialized in the room, with Claude standing behind them. Claude winked at Bennet. "They've been good at keeping quiet for the most part, but they do tend to cause trouble on occasion. It's been bloody hard as hell keeping them in line these last few months, I must say!" He winked at Peter. "Didn't blow up, I see?"

Sylar's eyes narrowed as he heard Ava gasp. He turned to watch as she stared at Claude, tears springing into her eyes. Sylar seethed as the older man turned to her and began to beam. Ava jumped up and ran across the room as Claude spread his arms wide and hugged her tightly as she threw her arms around his neck, sobbing. "I missed you." She cried.

"I missed you too, Kiddo!" He kissed her cheek, tears brimming in his eyes as he let her go and held her at arm's length, staring at her. "It's good to see you again, Luv!"


	10. Chapter 10: Kane's First Strike

Chapter Ten: Kane's First Strike

May 12, 2007

Sylar continued to glare as Ava hugged Claude, smiling happily. "It's so great to see you! It's been too long."

"I know, Kid!" Claude held her at arm's length, nodding appreciatively. "You look good, like you finally got your act together."

"I have, somewhat." Ava grinned. "So Bennet tracked you down after Kirby Plaza and put you with Hiro and Ando huh?"

"It was more Kaito's idea than Bennet's." Claude looked over at Noah, smirking. "Someone's still feeling a little nervous being around me. Probably because he shot me nearly eight years ago."

"I've already apologized for that." Noah sighed as he took off his glasses to clean them. "If I'd known the real reason that Thompson wanted you dead-"

"-If you hadn't been so bloody thick, you'd have caught the hints I was tossing at you, you pillock."

"If you'd just come right out and said what was going on-"

"-By the time I was able to prove it, Thompson was threatening me as well as you AND your wife and kids. He was having me watched, you bloody jackass! Seriously, how dense were you that you couldn't figure out what I was trying to tell you? Bet if I tossed the same hints around about Claire you'd be much quicker on the uptake with her. And another thing-"

"-Guys!" Ava sighed. "Can we talk about this later?" She grinned as she hugged Claude again, ignoring the angry, jealous looks from Sylar. "Can I just say how much I've missed you?"

"Please." Bennet rolled his eyes. "Don't even pretend that you haven't seen Claude in almost eight years. I have it on good authority that the two of you have been almost in constant contact since he faked his death on that bridge."

"Who do you think saved my life after you shot me, asshole?" Claude smirked. He turned, locking eyes with Sylar. "Oooooh, you must be Ava's latest assignment." He turned to Ava, winking. "I don't he likes me very much, must be because I've got my hands all over his woman." He draped an arm across Ava's shoulders as he shrugged. "You'll have to get over it, Sylar old boy. This girl here is like my baby sister and I'll hug her and spin her around all I bloody want."

"Besides, I'm not his woman." Ava looked away as Sylar's eyes narrowed further. "He's made that perfectly clear."

"Sounds like I've arrived in the middle of a little lovers spat." Claude chortled. "Oh well, shit happens."

"Speaking of Sylar," Bennet turned to the man in question "how in the hell did you get out of your cell?"

Sylar turned to Bennet and shrugged. "I walked over to the cameras and told the techs that they could either let me out for the meeting willingly, or I'd create an EMP, melt my doors and TK every head I saw. They sent The Haitian in to escort me here. He's waiting outside."

"I see." Bennet regarded Sylar, nodding slowly. "So, now that you've seen what we're up against, are you in?"

Sylar leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms across his chest. "Depends. Can I get out of that damn cell? I'm getting cabin fever in there."

"That depends on whether or not you're going to behave yourself around us." Bennet leaned forward on his hands, his eyes narrowing at Sylar. "Can we trust you to NOT try and kill all of us?"

Sylar and Bennet glared at each other for a moment until Sylar finally sighed and nodded. "I suppose I can behave until Kane is toast. Can I acquire his powers when this is over?"

"Absolutely not!" Angela Petrelli snapped. "God only knows what havoc you'd wreak if you were allowed that!"

Sylar glanced over at Angela. "Nathan takes after you, doesn't he?"

Angela cocked her head to the side, smirking at Sylar. "You'll be allowed out of your cell, but you're not leaving this town. You're going to return to the farmhouse where you've lived for the last six months and remain under surveillance there. Ava will return there with you to keep you in line."

"What?" Ava's eyes widened.

"HELL NO!" Sylar sat up in his chair. "I'm not living with her!"

"Oh yes you are." Angela's lips curled into a devious smile. "You can sleep in separate rooms if you wish, but you're both moving back to the farmhouse. You have three choices here, Mr. Gray. The first choice is staying in your cell with Ava next door, the second choice is moving to the farmhouse with Ava-"

"-And the third?"

Angela cocked an eyebrow. "Have you ever seen Agent Reese's power when it's at full force? I know you've seen the photos of what she did at her prom at seventeen. She's honed those abilities quite a bit in the last ten years. She could do much worse now, and she will to you if she's been ordered to. No matter what choice you make, you are stuck with Ava. Learn to deal with it."

Sylar slumped in his seat as he cut his eyes over at Ava. "Fine."

"So what's your decision?" Angela's voice was cold and steely.

"I'll go back to the farmhouse with Ava." Sylar muttered.

"Good. We'll move you both there tomorrow." Angela sighed as she sat back in her chair.

"Well! Now that we've got that settled," Claude clapped his hands together, a sunny smile on his face "I'm in the mood for a drink!" He turned to Bennet. "Recommend a bar?"

"At noon?" Bennet made a face.

"It's five o'clock somewhere, right?" He grinned at Ava. "You with me, Kiddo?"

"Sure!" Ava nodded. "We can catch up."

"Great!" He waved to Peter. "You're coming too. I need to hear all the gory details about blowing up in the sky. What was that like?"

"Weird." Peter grinned. He turned to Niki. "You coming?"

"Sure!" She smiled. "I'd like to finally get to know the notorious Mr. Raines."

"NOTORIOUS!" Claude laughed. "I like that." He glanced over at Candice. "You're pretty. You're coming too."

He turned and headed for the door with Ava, Peter, Niki and Candice following him. Matt shrugged and stood up, following behind them. Mohinder frowned. "And where are you going?"

"I'm not going to be left out!" Matt laughed as he left the room.

"Bloody hell." Mohinder stood and followed everyone else out. "Wait for me."

Sylar shrugged and stood up. Bennet glared at him. "And where are YOU going?"

"To the bar." Sylar rolled his eyes. "I'm still a little hung over. I could use a bit of the hair of the dog."

"You're going back to your cell."

"You can bird-dog Agent Reese later. Your release papers haven't been processed yet." Angela smiled coldly.

"WHAT?" Sylar glared angrily at Bennet. "Like hell I am! Who's going to stop me from going where I want?" He turned, his shoulder slumping as The Haitian silently slipped into the room, his eyes boring into Sylar's. "Fine. You people suck!"

Bennet looked up as Claude peeked back into the door. "Forget something?"

"Someone actually." Sylar perked up as Claude scanned the room, then sulked again as Claude nodded to Hiro and Ando. "You two will have to stick near me to stay invisible though, got it?"

"Yes! Thank you!" Hiro looked over at Sylar, covering a laugh as he left with Ando and Claude.

He watched them as they left the building, smiling as he spotted the redhead. He remembered the prophecy that had been told to him three hundred years earlier, about a woman with hair like fire. He studied the tall blond man walking beside her, laughing and joking as they got into cars with their friends. He didn't look like the man he'd seen in the drawing. He cranked up his car and followed them as they drove away from Primatech. He didn't think the blond man was the one with the heart of darkness, but he knew if he followed the redhead, she'd lead him to that man, his enemy, the one who was meant to lead them all into a fight to destroy him.

* * *

August 1, 1999

"Sorry about that again, Noah." Claude shook his head as they drove back to Primatech. "We were so close to Diego and then I just let him slip through my fingers. I don't know how that happened."

"It's fine." Noah shrugged. "I'm just glad that we finally got back home. Being away from Sandra and the kids for almost two months on 'paper business' was a little too much."

"At least you two probably had a great reunion." Claude grinned as Noah blushed slightly. "I see! Did absence make Sandy's heart grow fonder?"

"Hush." Noah covered a grin as he pulled into the Primatech parking lot. "I'm not discussing my wife with you."

"Fine." Claude sighed as they climbed out of the car. "Time to get back to the real world here at good old Primatech. I hope Ava's doing okay." He gave a sidelong glance at Bennet as they headed towards the building. "I just don't trust Thompson with her."

"He's fine with her. He's as good to her as we are."

"Sometimes I wonder." Claude cut his eyes at Bennet again as they entered the building and made their way towards OWI.

"What's there to wonder about?" Bennet was waved into the secured part of the building by a security guard.

"He doesn't have her best interests at heart, not like we do."

"We're agents and coworkers, that's all. The only interests we have at heart are our jobs."

"You don't HONESTLY believe that crap you're spewing." Claude stopped, staring at Bennet. "You and I are friends and we're like fathers to Ava at the most, overprotective brothers at the very least. You can't honestly believe that Ava's just a job, any more than Claire is. She's your daughter and Ava's your friend."

"She's also an agent." Noah looked pointedly at him. "I know she's had it rough since she got here in so many ways, but sometimes we have to step back and let her deal with it. She'll never learn to stand on her own two feet if we're constantly there to prop her up. I want her to be a good agent, a great one. She can't be that if we baby her. THOSE are the best interests for her and I DO have those at heart." He turned and walked down the hall as Claude sighed and followed him.

"I want her to be a great agent too, but that's not what I'm talking about. Noah, I honestly think that Thompson-"

"-Thompson what?" They turned to see Thompson walking down the hall towards them, smiling broadly.

Claude frowned. "I was telling Noah that I didn't think you'd be too upset that Diego slipped through our fingers. He just disappeared. We had him cornered in Seville, we had him cornered again in Rome and each time, he slipped out somehow."

"That's fine." Thompson shrugged, his eyes locking with Claude's. "I'm sure he'll turn up again somewhere soon."

"How Ava?" Claude asked, his eyes boring into Thompson.

"Good!" Thompson grinned. "I helped her move into her apartment in Lubbock at the end of June and she has a company car now. She'll be in within the hour. I'm sure she'll be happy to see the two of you. She missed you both." He smirked. "God only knows how she'd handle it if something happened to either of you. You're like family to her."

Claude nodded slowly. "She's like family to us too."

"And you're like family to her." Thompson nodded. "So, I suppose you two will need to write reports on what happened in Europe?"

"We're on that now." Bennet nodded to Claude and headed towards their desks. "What's with the two of you?" He asked.

Claude shook his head. "Nothing."

"What were you going to say about him before he interrupted us?"

Claude looked away, suddenly realizing how Thompson was keeping Ava from talking. "I wasn't going to say anything. Leave it alone, Noah."

* * *

May 12, 2007

"-and then I said, 'poker? I hardly know 'er'!"

Peter, Mohinder and Matt sat at a table, watching as Claude held court in his booth at the bar/restaurant they'd found on the outskirts of Odessa. Two places on either side of him appeared empty to the naked eye as Niki, Ava and Candice sat around him, laughing at his jokes. Lunchtime had come and gone, along with the lunch crowd. Now, in this bar, the Primatech people were the only people left. Mohinder sighed and rolled his eyes as he swigged his beer. "I'm bored." He muttered.

"You and me both." Matt sighed. "I thought this was going to be fun."

"It was until Claude decided to dominate his time with the girls and the invisible wonder twins." Peter shrugged as he turned to order another beer.

Niki climbed out of the booth and walked over to Peter, grabbing a barstool next to him as she ordered a soda. "He's a lot of fun!"

"I never knew he was such a laugh riot when he was smacking me around with a big stick and tossing me off of buildings." Peter shrugged.

Niki turned to Peter, smiling softly. "Are you jealous?"

"No." Peter lied as Niki pulled her stool closer to his. He covered a grin as she placed her hand on his thigh, slowly sliding it up. "Okay, I'm a little jealous."

"Don't be. I might be sitting over there laughing my ass off, but inside, I'm wishing we were alone at my house."

"Really?" Peter turned to her. "And just what would we be doing there?"

"You REALLY want to know?" Niki leaned forward, whispering in Peter's ear.

He sat back, his eyes widening as he grinned. "You're dirty."

"Wanna help clean me up then?" Niki winked.

"No, I wanna get dirty with you."

He sat in his car, watching them inside the building using the x-ray vision he'd stolen off of a street vendor in London during his 'Ripper' days. His eyes narrowed at the redhead as she laughed and shook her head, grinning at the older blond man. He could also see the man who'd stolen his glory in Japan, the man named Hiro as he sat next to the blond man and his Japanese friend. He smirked. They may be invisible to the naked eye, but they were very visible to him with his vision. He wondered how he could get into the building and destroy as many of Hiro's friends as he could without getting caught, ending the prophecy. He smiled as he scanned the building, spotting a back door connecting to a storeroom near the bathrooms, his smile broadening as he saw one of the women, the one in the pleated miniskirt, stand and head for the bathroom.

He climbed out of his car and quickly made his way to the back door, rolling his eyes as he realized it was locked. Taking a deep breath, he turned into a steamy vapor, pouring under the door and materializing again inside the storeroom. Peeking out of the door, he waited until the woman stepped out of the bathroom. Moving quickly, he grabbed her, shoving a hand against her mouth as he dragged her into the room, closing the door behind him. As she squirmed against him, he laughed in her ear. "You're pretty. I'm going to have so much fun with you before I leave a message for your friends out there, and you want to know the best part? You can scream all you want in here and no one out there, just feet away will hear you. In fact, I want you to scream, it makes me happy."

Candice struggled against him, her heart pounding as she realized who had her and remembered the crime scene photos she'd seen earlier of Kimiko Nakamura.

At the bar, Peter and Matt looked up in unison, looking around as they both heard Candice's terrified thoughts. _It's Kane! Oh my GOD! He's going to kill me!_

Peter turned to Matt, reaching for the gun he always kept strapped to his waist. "You heard that?"

Matt nodded, pulling out the gun he always carried in a holster under his arm. "I heard that too."

As they stood up armed, Ava turned to them, her eyes widening. She climbed out of the booth and ran to them as Niki also pulled her gun. "What in the hell is going on?"

"Where's Candice?" Peter asked, his voice filling with urgency as he began to hear more terrified thoughts from the girl in question.

"She went to the bathroom, why?" Ava pulled a gun from her purse as Mohinder stared at them, his eyes widening with fright.

"Let's go. Matt and I just heard her thoughts. Kane has her. Hopefully they're still in the building."

"Oh shit!" Ava's heart began to pound as they started towards the back of the bar.

Claude ran over to them, Hiro and Ando hot on his heels. "What's going on?"

"Stay here, protect Hiro, Ando and Mohinder if you can." Peter glanced at the hallway leading to the bathrooms. "Kane's in the building and he has Candice."

"Oh bloody HELL!" Claude turned back to Hiro and Ando, directing them back towards the front door with Mohinder as Peter, Niki, Matt and Ava slowly headed down the hall, brandishing their guns.

Niki and Ava went into the girl's bathroom, searching the stalls before they came back out, shaking their heads at Matt and Peter. They kept watch as Peter and Matt did the same in the men's room. After they returned, everyone turned to look at the storeroom door. "Think they're in there?" Ava whispered.

"I hope so." Peter nodded to Matt, who kicked in the door. Everyone ran into the room, covering the four corners of the room as they searched the room. "Where are they?" Peter asked, his stomach boiling with nervousness as they looked at each other.

Matt stared at a small puddle of blood on the floor, his heart plummeting as he realized that blood was still dripping from somewhere higher. He looked up his eyes widening. "Up there!"

Everyone looked and pointed their guns at the ceiling, gasping at the sight of Kane clinging to it with his feet, a bloodied and unconscious Candice clutched in his arms. He began to chuckle. "Looks like most of the gang's here. Where's Hiro?"

"None of your damn business." Ava snarled. "Let her go."

"Say please." Kane smirked. "I know which one you are, Firebrand. You were one of the ones mentioned specifically by that old fart in Japan. Where's the man with the heart of darkness who's supposed to love you so much? He here?"

"Let her GO!" Ava cocked her gun at him as he laughed harder.

"You really think that's going to do a bit of good?" With a quick, fluid motion, he threw Candice at Ava and disappeared into a cloud of vapor as Niki, Peter and Matt opened fire. He materialized in front of Niki and kicked her against a wall before disappearing again and materializing in front of Peter. Peter gasped and yelled as Kane opened his mouth, a stream of noxious fluid spewing from it into Peter's face. Kane smirked. "I'm going to have so much fun with all of you!" He turned into vapor again, sliding under the back door as Niki moaned and slowly sat up.

"Son of a bitch!" She muttered as she tried to stand. She glanced at Candice as Ava cradled her in her arms, searching for injuries. "She okay?"

"He slashed up her back and arms." Ava shook her head. "I think he wanted to torture her first before killing her. She's lost a lot of blood. We need to get her back to Primatech to the medical wing."

"PETER!" Niki knelt in front of him, tears springing into her eyes as he gasped and struggled for breath before his eyes rolled back into his head. He began to shake with a seizure. Matt stopped Niki as she reached for him. "LET ME GO!"

"Kane spit something on him. It may have been venom. We need to get him to medical too. Don't touch him though, just in case it's absorbed through the skin." Matt ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm getting the guys. Hiro needs to teleport us back to Primatech as soon as possible before Candice and Peter die." He turned and ran out of the room.

Niki reached for Peter's hand after making sure there was no venom on them. "Hang on Baby, please." She whispered. "I love you. Don't you DARE die on me, dammit. I can't lose you the way I lost D.L." She turned as a hand touched her shoulder and looked over at Ava. "He can't die."

"He won't." Ava squeezed Niki's shoulder with one hand as she held onto Candice with the other. They looked up as Matt returned with Mohinder, Claude, Hiro and Ando, as well as the bartender and owners of the bar. "What are they doing here?"

"The Haitian's going to have to work with them." Matt sighed.

"CANDICE!" Mohinder ran to her, pulling her out of Ava's arms and cradling her in his own. "Oh no!" Niki and Ava stared in shock at each other as Mohinder gently rocked Candice in his arms, fighting tears as he looked over at Hiro. "Well? Let's get teleported back!"

Hiro nodded and made sure everyone was touching each other before he placed a hand on Claude's shoulder, closing his eyes.

* * *

August 1, 1999

Claude looked up as Ava entered the office space, frowning at her. She'd dyed her hair back to its natural red, a color he thought suited her much better than the blond she'd been forced to have in London. She'd lost weight since June. Claude noticed the way her clothes hung loosely on her and noticed the dark circles under her eyes. As she spotted him, he noticed the way her face suddenly relaxed from its tense expression and smiled as she half-ran to him, hugging him tightly. "I'm so glad you're back." She breathed.

"It's good to be back, Kiddo." Claude tilted her chin up, making her look into his eyes. "You okay?"

Ava lowered her eyes. "I'm fine."

"I like the red. It's a better color for you than blond."

"I think so too."

Claude watched as Ava turned to Bennet, hugging him. "How have you been?" Noah stared at her. "You need to eat and get more sleep."

"I will." Ava shrugged nervously as she lowered her eyes again. "I promise."

"Probably just having trouble adjusting to life in your own apartment all by yourself, right?" Claude asked.

"Yeah." Ava nodded, glancing at him before looking away. "It's just an adjustment, that's all." She took a deep breath, smiling at both of her friends. "I need to head down to the training room. I've been getting lax in my jujitsu training lately. See you both later."

Claude watched, shaking his head as she walked away, heading towards the training room. Thompson hadn't left her alone. He knew this now. If anything, by the way she looked, things were worse than ever as far as he could tell. Claude slipped away to the A/V room and watched Ava training alone, practicing moves in front of a mirror. He glanced in another monitor and saw Thompson walking down a hallway. His mouth twisted into an angry expression as he realized that Thompson was about to enter the training room. His hands balled into fists as he watched Thompson walk into the room and close the door behind him. On the monitor, Claude watched Ava cower away from Thompson as he locked a door and then pointed a remote at the surveillance camera in the training room, cursing as the monitor went dark. "Rotten bastard. I'll find a way to make you leave that girl alone." Claude turned and walked out of the room, slamming the door angrily behind him.

* * *

May 12, 2007

Sylar lay on his bed, glaring up at the ceiling as he sulked. He glanced over at Mac as the puppy jumped on his bed and began to attack the laces on his shoes. "Cut it out, pooch." Sylar muttered before glaring up at the ceiling again. "Take after your real father with that crap."

He sat up as he heard shouting and the sounds of feet running towards one room. He concentrated, hearing Ava's panicked voice rising above everyone else's. "What in the hell?" He got up and walked to the camera. "What's going on out there? I can hear people freaking out, what's going on?" He paced for a moment, waiting to hear someone talk back to him. Finally, he rolled his eyes and went to Mac, shutting the dog in Ava's room. "Fuck this!" He went to the door and concentrated on it, smirking as it melted into a slimy metallic puddle at his feet. "Told you assholes I'd do when someone wouldn't respond to me!"

He stepped over what was left of his door and headed down the hallway. He found his way through the maze of hallways until the voices grew louder. He spotted a door marked "medical" and walked through it, his eyes widening at the scene before him. Candice lay on her stomach on a gurney, moaning in pain as a doctor tended to deep gashes on her bare back. Mohinder sat beside her, holding her hand as she cried out in pain while the doctor and nurses cleaned her wounds. Sylar turned as he heard more voices ringing out in urgency in a room beside him. People in biohazard suits cleaned an unconscious Peter Petrelli's face and body, as others collected a sticky slime that had pooled around his face, carefully placing it in test tubes. Niki sobbed in Matt's arms beside the door of the room.

Sylar spun around as a hand touched his arm. Ava was looking up at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. "What happened here?" Sylar asked, glancing back over at Peter before looking back at Ava.

Ava shuddered, hugging herself as she struggled to speak. She shook her head, bursting into sobs as Sylar watched. He turned as the doors to Medical burst open and Claude rushed into the room with Hiro, Ando, Kaito, Bennet and a sobbing Angela. "One minute we're all having drinks and kicking back, the next minute Kane's there, attacking us!" Claude reached for Angela, hugging her tightly as she spotted her son and began to wail. "He'll be okay, he just needs a few minutes to recover."

"What happened?" Bennet's voice was tight as he spotted Candice.

"He grabbed Candice and dragged her into a storeroom. Peter and Matt heard Candice's thoughts. They went into the storeroom with Ava and Niki. I don't know what happened next, I wasn't there." Claude shrugged. "Maybe when they calm down, they'll be able to tell more about what happened. I showed up to see Candice covered in blood and Peter having a seizure. They said something about Kane spitting venom on him."

"Venom?" Angela shivered in Claude's arms. "How many powers does that freak have?"

Ava turned to Angela, clearing her throat as she tried to pull herself together. "We know he's venomous and that he can turn himself into some sort of mist. He did that when we shot at him. That's how he escaped."

Sylar stared at Ava, then turned back to look at Peter and then Candice. "Mist? Venom?" He swallowed hard as Ava began to cry again and reached out, finally pulling her into her arms. He sighed as she sagged against him, sobbing loudly. "Holy shit, what kind of monster are we going to be facing, anyway?"

* * *

A quick note from the author:

Yeah, I know, Mohinder and Candice are a couple, just like in my other story. Don't ask me why, I just think the two of them would be a strange, yet interesting pairing.

Anyhoo, hope the few of you who are reading are enjoying this story! I'm having a blast writing it, so I'd like to know if anyone out there has been having just as much fun reading.

* * *


	11. Chapter 11: Moving Home

Chapter Eleven: Moving Home

May 12, 2007

Sylar stared in shock as medical technicians continued to work on Peter and Candice, cleansing the former to free his airway from the sticky venom that had penetrated his nose and mouth and slowly cleaning the slashes from the back and arms of the latter. He stared down at Ava as she cried in his arms and shook his head. "I'm out." He whispered.

Bennet turned to him. "Excuse me?"

Sylar stepped away from Ava as he began to shake his head again. "I'm OUT! I'm not fighting this Kane freak! He spits venom for crying out loud! He turns into mist and blocks out all noise, I'm NOT going anywhere near him."

"Sylar." Ava stepped towards him and stopped as he held out his hands, backing away from her.

"Forget it!" He turned as Peter began to cough in the isolation room. "You see what Kane did to HIM? And HE'S able to heal! He's able to heal and he was down with that venom for HOW long? Forget this!"

"SHUT UP!" Angela hissed as she stepped towards him, her eyes blazing angrily. "Just shut up!" Her face twisted into a snarl as she looked up at him, shaking her head. "The fearsome Sylar," she laughed softly "I never thought I'd live to see the day when someone would scare HIM!"

"I'm not scared." Sylar looked away. "I just don't care."

"No, you're scared." Angela nodded. "You're nothing more than a big bully who has suddenly realized there's someone who might actually be bigger and more bad-ass than he is, and how do you respond? You respond the way ANY bully would, by running away."

"I'm NOT a bully!" Sylar glared at her.

"Yes you are." Angela raised an eyebrow as she smirked. "You've become the person you swore you wouldn't be when you were a young boy, haven't you? You've become the one who picks on the weaker and more innocent, and just like any bully, you're running at the first sign of trouble."

"I'm NOT one of those people!" Sylar shook his head.

"You were bullied quite a bit as a child, I'll bet. In fact, I won't bet on that at all, because I already know. I've read your file, Mr. Gray. I know how you were teased and beaten and bullied every day of your life until you became an adult, and then continued to be henpecked and bullied by your mother. The first chance you got to lord it over someone weaker, you jumped at it, even though you swore as a child that you'd NEVER treat anyone the way you were treated."

"You don't know me." Sylar looked away. "I'm not a bully."

"Then PROVE it!" Angela snapped at him. "Stop standing here sniveling and whining all 'I'm so scared of Kane, he's bigger and meaner than me!'! Kane really IS a bully. You've seen what he's done, unchecked for the last three hundred years. A prophecy has stated that you, and ONLY you can be the one to lead all of us against him. You can help us stop him, stop him from bullying and hurting other weak innocents. So here's the question, Mr. Gray: Are you going to be the bully you swore you'd never be, or are you going to be the hero you wanted to be in Kirby Plaza?"

"I don't know if I can do it." Sylar stared at the floor. "It's not going to be easy."

"Nothing in this world that's worth doing, that's life-changing is ever easy, My Dear." Angela walked to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "If you truly want to be a hero, you'll stand with the rest of us and fight Kane. You'll help us to change the world. What will it be?"

Sylar looked up at her, then looked away. "Change the world?"

"Be a hero." Angela smiled softly.

Sylar nodded. "I'll stay."

"Good boy." Angela patted him on the shoulder before stepping past him to stand beside Niki and Matt and look into the window of the isolation room. Peter was slowly sitting up, pale and shaky as technicians in biohazard suits continued to clean his face and torso. He looked up and caught his mother and girlfriend's nervous looks and smiled softly back at them, giving them a weak thumbs up. Angela turned to a technician as he walked out of the room, pulling off the hood of his suit. "How is he?"

"We've almost got him cleaned of the substance. A sample of it's been taken to the lab. He's doing really well, for someone whose airway has been compromised for the last half-hour. We thought he wasn't going to make it at first, but he surprised us."

"When can we go inside to see him?" Niki asked, her voice shaky.

"We'll be letting him out of isolation as soon as the substance has been tested. We should be getting the results back within twenty-four hours."

"TWENTY-FOUR HOURS?" Angela glared at him. "I will NOT be kept from MY son for that long!"

"Mrs. Petrelli, we don't know what he was sprayed with. We don't know the level of its toxicity or the effect it could have on you or Ms. Sanders if you were to go into that room right now without protective gear."

"Then bring us BOTH some protective gear immediately." Angela placed her hands on her hips as she stared up at him, her expression stern.

The technician nodded. "Yes ma'am." He turned and quickly ran down the hall.

Niki turned to Angela. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Angela studied Niki. "You know, when my son first told me that the two of you were seeing one another, I thought it would be disastrous. I knew about the dalliance you had with my eldest son and I worried that you would hurt my youngest by seeing him so soon after the death of your husband."

"I know." Niki nodded as she stared at the floor. "But I really do care about Peter. This isn't a fling or dalliance and it's not a rebound relationship. I lost D.L. so suddenly, and I never in a million years thought I'd ever be seeing someone less than six months after his death, much less be in love with them but-"

"-Say no more." Angela's eyes narrowed as she studied Niki closer. "Your reaction to his injuries today, the way you've been pacing outside of this room since he was brought in, the tears you've been crying, I know that the two of you aren't going to be ending things any time soon. You both have my blessing-"

"-Thank you." Niki's eyes widened with surprise as Angela held up her hand.

"But if you dare hurt my youngest son, I swear to God above that no amount of super strength you pull out of your ass will protect you from me."

"Yes Ma'am." Niki nodded. "I love him."

"I can tell." Angela turned to the technician as he returned, carrying two biohazard suits. "Well, this won't be part of any couture collections any time soon, but I suppose it will do for now." She smirked as she began to put her suit on.

Bennet walked over to Sylar. "So, now you've seen what all of the excitement's all about, mind telling me how you got out of your cell THIS time?"

"I melted the door." Sylar shrugged. "No one would answer when I asked what was going on." He smirked. "You know, for a high-security detention facility, you guys are seriously lacking in the security department."

Bennet glared at Sylar, then turned to Ava. "Get him back to your area, get packed and take his ass back to the farmhouse." He walked away, shaking his head.

"Sure thing, Sir." Ava sniffled as she wiped at her eyes. "Come on, let's go." She stopped by Claude and smiled softly. "See you later?"

"Love to, Luv. I'll swing by for dinner."

"Good. I'll want the low-down on how everyone's doing." She sighed as she walked past Claude with Sylar following behind her. They went to their rooms and began to pack their things. After a few minutes, she looked up as Hiro entered the room. "What do you need?"

Hiro bowed to Ava and frowned at Sylar. "Father told me that you will need to be teleported back to the farm house. Your car will be sent over later by another technician. Father says that Kane may be watching the building and he doesn't want you followed by him. He says that if Kane were to attack the both of you before you're ready, you could be-"

"-Killed?" Sylar shook his head. "This news just gets better and better." He grumped.

"Everyone who is included in the prophecy will be teleported here and back to their homes every night, to keep Kane from following you. It is to protect you, and in the case of Niki, Bennet and Parkman, their children. We will probably teleport Mohinder as well, in order to protect Molly Walker." Hiro nodded. "Are you both ready?"

Ava shouldered her bags and grabbed Sylar's as he tried to lift them. "Don't bother, I don't want you sre-injuring your sprained wrist."

"Good idea, I'm going to need it as long as I'm around you." Sylar smirked.

"Really?" Ava laughed softly. "I turn you on that much, huh? Grab Mac, please?"

"Fine. And no, you DON'T turn me on that much." Sylar called to Mac and smiled as the puppy ran over to him, his tail wagging happily. Sylar picked up the dog and turned to Hiro. "So how do we do this?"

"Hang on." Hiro placed a hand on Ava's shoulder, then reluctantly placed one on Sylar's. He closed his eyes as Sylar and Ava did the same. Moments later, they opened them, nodding in appreciation to see that they were standing in the farmhouse.

Sylar grinned. "Cool way of transport. VERY cool!"

Hiro frowned. "You can't have it! Try it and I'll stab you again!"

"I'm not going to take your damn power, jeez!" Sylar rolled his eyes. "Excuse the shit out of me for wanting to pay you a compliment."

Hiro fidgeted nervously for a moment. "I must return to Primatech." He held out two necklaces. "For you both."

"What are they?" Ava took hers and put it on. "It looks like one of those Life Alert necklaces."

"Cool. I can use it when I've fallen and can't get up." Sylar smirked.

"Is similar to them, yes." Hiro nodded. "They are panic buttons on a chain. There are still panic buttons throughout the house, but these are in case of emergencies when you can't reach the buttons. Hit this and Primatech's tactical teams will arrive quickly."

"Thanks Hiro." Ava smiled at him.

"You are very welcome." He bowed to Ava again and spared one last, nervous glance for Sylar before closing his eyes and disappearing from the room.

"He's a little scared of me." Sylar shrugged. "Can't say that I blame him."

"Well, you DID kill his girlfriend and threaten to kill his best friend. I wouldn't say he's scared as much as he is nervous that he'll have to run you through with his sword again."

"You know, I was the one who was stabbed. You'd think I would have more to fear from him than he does from me."

"True." Ava looked around the living room. "So what are the sleeping arrangements going to be?"

"You're in one room, I'm in the other, of course."

"Of course." Ava glared at him. "Do you want the master bedroom or the guest room?"

"I don't care." Sylar shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me."

"Fine, you'll get the master, I'll get the guest."

"Fine." Sylar snatched a bag from Ava and shouldered it as he walked upstairs.

Ava sighed as she looked down at Mac. "This is going to be so much fun." She rolled her eyes as she followed Sylar up the stairs to put her things back into the guest room.

* * *

August 3, 1999 

Claude sat behind the wheel of his car in the parking lot of Primatech, willing himself and his car as invisible as he waited. As the sun began to go down, he spotted Ava walking out of the building and approach a car. He waited as she climbed into the driver's seat and drove away, heading towards Lubbock. He started his car and followed her, avoiding traffic as he attempted to stay as close to her as he could for the over two-hour drive. He frowned as he glanced in his rearview mirror and spotted Thompson's car. Gripping his steering wheel, he fought the urge to run the bastard off of the road. Instead, he directed his eyes forward and concentrated on Ava's car, following it until it pulled up at an apartment building on the outskirts of Lubbock. He parked his car near hers and watched as she stepped out and walked to the building, letting herself in. Claude got out of his car and continued to make himself invisible as he walked towards the building. He waited beside the door, reading the name A. Reese beside the buzzer for apartment 5A.

A few moments later, his blood boiled as he spotted Thompson pulling into the parking lot. Fighting the urge to hit him as he approached, Claude watched as Thompson pressed the buzzer for 5A.

"Yes." Ava's voice sounded weary.

"You know who it is. Let me in." Thompson rolled his eyes.

"Look, I'm really not in the mood tonight-"

"-Did I ASK what YOU were in the mood for? You know what I'M in the mood for, that should be the only thing you should give a shit about. Now let me in before I get especially cranky." He sighed with frustration as the door buzzed and let himself in.

Claude slipped in behind Thompson and watched as he stepped onto an elevator, a self-satisfied smirk plastered across his face as the door closed behind him.

Claude rang for the next elevator and boarded that one, arriving at the fifth floor as the door to 5A closed behind Thompson. He walked over to the door and pressed his ear against it, listening. After a few moments, he tested the doorknob and cursed under his breath to discover that it was locked. "I can wait." He muttered angrily as he sat beside the door. "I can wait to beat the shit out of him for what he's doing to her."

* * *

May 12, 2007 

Sylar walked into the master bedroom and looked around, realizing that Ava had cleaned everything up after their fight two days previously. Looking around at the room he'd shared with her for the last few months, he began to get angry again, remembering the nights they'd spent together in that room. He sat on the edge of the mattress, then jumped back up, almost as if he'd been burned. Glaring at the comforter, he snatched it off, then pulled the sheets off of the bed and wadded them up, tossing them to the floor before he pulled a clean pair of sheets from the linen closet in the master bathroom. He quickly remade the bed, stopping as he put fresh pillowcases on the pillows to inhale the scent that continued to cling to two of the pillows on the bed.

They were Ava's pillows, and even without their cases, they still smelled like her. Sylar closed his eyes as he thought of the nights they'd spent together in that bed, making love, cuddling and later sleeping, their limbs tangled together after they'd worn themselves out. He'd been happy with her until he discovered his true identity, and hers. Gritting his teeth angrily, he snatched up the two pillows and carried them into the guest bedroom. Ava looked up from her bag as she unpacked, frowning as he threw the pillows on the bed and picked up two from the guest bedroom, sniffing them before nodding and marching out of the room without a word.

Ava sighed and turned back to her bag, continuing to unpack her things. After a few minutes, she walked into the master bedroom and spied the used sheets wadded on the floor. She glanced over at Sylar as he furiously made the bed, snatching the comforter back onto the bed as he glared at her. She rolled her eyes and walked to the chest of drawers, pulling her clothes out of them before turning and walking out with an armload of clothes.

As she re-folded and put away those clothes, she looked up as Sylar marched into her room, another load of clothes in his arms. He tossed the clothes onto the bed and stomped out, returning a moment later with more clothes. He made a third and fourth silent trip into her room, depositing the clothes that were in her closet. His fifth and sixth trips included her shoes and his seventh and final trip into her room was to bring the toiletries she'd kept in their bathroom. Glowering at her, he turned on his heel and stomped out a final time as Ava placed her hands on her hips and finally spoke. "THANKS A LOT, ASSHOLE!"

"YOU'RE WELCOME BITCH!"

"Great!" Ava rolled her eyes. "What set him off THIS time?" She turned back to her clothes and quickly refolded and re-hung them, placing them in drawers and in the closet.

* * *

August 3, 1999 

Thompson whistled to himself as he let himself out of Ava's apartment, smiling with self-contentment as he pressed the button to the elevator. As the doors opened, he yelped as he felt invisible hands grab him and shove him into the conveyance. He turned as the door closed behind him, glaring as Claude appeared in front of him, pressing the button to stop the elevator's descent. "You." Thompson snarled. "I knew that stupid little bitch blabbed something!"

"She told me nothing, you little bastard!" Claude lied as he took a swing at Thompson, his fist connecting with the side of his face. "She didn't have to!" He punched Thompson in the stomach. "I've had a feeling that something has been wrong with her for quite a while now, a little over a year to be exact!" He grabbed Thompson by the front of his shirt, shoving him against a wall. "You've been forcing yourself on her, haven't you? It's been going on for a while."

Thompson sniffed angrily, his nose bleeding as he glared at Claude. "I haven't been forcing anything. She likes it, she loves it, actually."

"Then why, when she found out that you knew that she was getting closer to O'Rourke, did she beg me to keep you away from her and beg me to hide her somewhere? That's when everything really began to fall into place for me."

"You should have hidden her then." Thompson laughed. "Like you did with Tomas Diego." He nodded as Claude's eyes widened. "I knew about him. I knew what you were up to with him, and so many others. You've been helping them hide and helping them deactivate the isotope in their skin. You know what will happen to you once Kaito finds out what you've been up to."

"And you know what Kaito will do when he finds out that your disgusting, sleazy ass has been practically raping Ava! His daughter Kimiko is Ava's age, you know. I think he'll take it rather personally that you're using his company's time and resources to live out your sick, twisted school girl fantasies!"

"You're not telling Kaito ANYTHING!" Thompson smirked. "You see, I've already set something in place. I knew you were onto me, I knew you had found out what Ava and I were up to-"

"-Don't you DARE include her in this! She's a victim, YOUR victim!"

"If anything happens to me, anything at all, evidence of your little extracurricular escapades will be sent to Kaito and to other leaders of our group." He nodded as Claude slowly shook his head. "Oh yes, there ARE other members, members that you have no idea about. I have a feeling they're not going to be too pleased about what you're doing, even more displeased than they'll be about me having a little fun with one of my employees-"

"-FUN?"

"They'll probably even bury what I've been doing with Ava under the rug long enough to have me terminate you, permanently. Hell, to keep quiet what's been going on here, they'll probably decide to terminate Ava as well. Permanently."

"You disgusting, sick, delusional-"

"-Tell you what, I'll make you a deal, Claude. You keep quiet about what I'm doing and I'll keep quiet about what YOU'RE doing! Hey, and to sweeten the pot, I'll even let you slip up here to 'visit' Ava if you want. She's a beautiful girl and I know you've probably had an impure thought or two about her as well. We could even schedule nights, so we don't double up, even though that could be fun as well-" He yelped as Claude punched him in the face again.

Claude grabbed him, his face inches from Thompson's. "-You ever try and offer her to me that way again, I'll fucking kill you. She's like family to me, I've never thought of her as anything more, or less."

"Whatever gets you going." Thompson winked. "Fine, then we'll make THIS deal. You keep your mouth shut, or not ONLY will the board of directors find out that you've been hiding specials, but you'll be killed, Ava will be killed and Noah Bennet will be killed. Before I kill Noah however, I'm going to make HIM watch as I kill his wife and son and have his daughter taken away. It's only a matter of time before she manifests anyway. I think she'd make a great addition at OWI."

"You're sick."

"She's a pretty little girl. She's going to grow up to be beautiful, even more beautiful than Ava. Without you or Noah or Ava around, I don't know how I'll be able to contain myself around precious Claire." He raised an eyebrow as Claude lifted his fist again. "Hit me again, and I'll start that ball rolling regardless." He smirked as Claude lowered his fist and backed away, slumping against the wall in defeat. "We have Tomas Diego in our custody. He's already sold you out to me. One word from me, and he'll sell you out to the board of directors. Just keep your mouth shut and go along with what I'm doing, or you and your 'family' will regret it, understand?" He hit a button on the elevator, studying Claude as he stared off into space. As they reached the lobby, Thompson stepped out of the elevator and turned to Claude. "Have a good night Claude, I certainly did." He walked away and reached his car, climbing inside and checking his reflection in the vanity mirror. "Asshole." He glanced at Claude as he slowly walked to his car, his shoulder slumped. "You're outta here, you're causing much too much trouble for me."

* * *

May 12, 2007 

Sylar came downstairs an hour later, sniffing the air as he walked into the kitchen. Ava stood at the stove, sautéing chicken as she stirred a pot of Spanish rice and salsa. "What are you doing?" He asked.

Ava raised an eyebrow at him. "It's this little technique where you mix different food ingredients together over heat to make them more palatable. It's called cooking."

"No shit." Sylar glared at her. "I usually cook."

"I felt like cooking tonight, okay?"

"What are you making?" Sylar leaned against the counter, his eyes widening as Ava chopped up peppers and threw them into the skillet with the chicken.

"Tex-Mex. I'm making salsa chicken."

"I hate spicy foods." Sylar looked away.

"No you don't, you cook your fair share of it yourself."

"I hate your cooking."

"How the hell would YOU know? Up until now, you've dominated the damn kitchen!" Ava rolled her eyes as she stirred the food. "And I don't recall inviting you to eat what I'm cooking anyway! If you want something to eat, you can make it yourself, I'm not cooking for YOU!"

"If you're not just cooking for yourself, then who is going to eat all of that shit? Not that I'd want it anyway."

"Sure, right." Ava smirked. "I'm having a friend over for dinner."

"Claude." Sylar growled.

"Yes. He LIKES my Tex-Mex."

"Oh, I'm sure he does." Sylar turned and stomped out of the kitchen into the living room. He sat on the couch and grabbed a remote, turning on the television. He settled in on the couch as Mac jumped up to sit beside him to watch a Yankees game.

After a few minutes, the doorbell rang. He turned and stared at the front door for a moment, then shrugged and turned back to the television. Once the doorbell rang again, Ava walked into the living room, glaring at Sylar as she walked to the front door. "Oh no, let ME!"

"Not my fucking guest." Sylar muttered as Ava answered the door and let Claude in. She smiled as Niki followed him inside with Micah.

"Do you mind?" Niki hugged her. "Hiro picked up Micah from school and I realized that we were both getting hungry as hell. Claude said he was coming here and said that you'd be cool with us coming over for dinner."

"I made plenty!" She held out her hand to Micah. "I'm a friend of your mom's from work. I'm Ava Reese."

"Micah Sanders." Micah smiled up at her, then turned to see Sylar sitting on the couch in the living room. "Mom? How do I know him?"

Niki looked sad for a moment. "He was in Kirby Plaza the night your dad was shot."

Micah's eyes widened. "HE was the guy hitting Peter with a parking meter!"

Sylar turned, frowning. "You know, your mom hit me with that thing too!"

"I know, she has super strength." Micah walked into the living room and perched on the coffee table in front of Sylar as the adults watched nervously. "So what can you do? How did you get that parking meter to come out of the ground like that?"

"Telekinesis." Sylar cocked his head to the side.

"REALLY? COOL!" Micah grinned. Sylar found himself smiling despite himself. "That's REALLY awesome!" He shrugged sadly. "My dad had a cool power too. He could phase through walls and stuff. He died after Kirby Plaza though. Mr. Linderman shot at Mom and instead of letting her take the bullet, he jumped in front of it and got shot instead. He could have phased the bullet through, but he didn't want Mom to get hurt." He stared at the floor. "He was hurt pretty bad. He developed an infection in the hospital and died the next week."

"I'm sorry." Sylar studied the boy. "My dad died a few years ago."

"It really sucks, huh?"

Sylar nodded, his heart reaching out for the small boy sitting Indian-style in front of him. "Yeah, it sucks."

"I have a power too!" Micah nodded. "It's pretty cool. I can manipulate computer stuff to do what I want it to do. I can hack into anything computerized, just by touching it."

"Really?" Sylar nodded. "That's a pretty cool power itself."

"It has its uses." Micah laughed.

"I'll bet it does." He glanced up as Niki stood next to him, glaring down at him. "What? I wasn't thinking-" he sighed "-stop glaring at me like that, damn!"

"Mom?" Micah looked over at his mother. "What's wrong?"

Niki shrugged as she studied Sylar. "Nothing." She leaned down to Sylar, her lips inches from his ear as she began to whisper. Sylar nodded and turned to Micah, rolling his eyes. "You like the Yankees?"

"The Yankees are COOL!" Micah jumped off of the table and sat on the couch, laughing as Mac jumped into his lap and began to lick his face. "Your dog's cool too! Mom says we're going to get one soon."

"They can be fun." Sylar laughed as he turned back to the television.

Niki watched them for a moment before following Claude and Ava into the kitchen. "Figures the one he'd bond with fastest would be a kid."

"Probably because they're on the same maturity level." Ava muttered. "Actually, I think Micah's probably more mature than Sylar. As soon as we got here, he got all pissy again and started acting like a five year old." She sighed and turned to Niki. "How's Pete?"

"Feeling MUCH better!" Niki grinned. "He's getting a little antsy being stuck in the isolation room, but he's feeling like himself again finally."

"Good." Ava raised an eyebrow. "And Candice?"

"She's been stitched up to hell and back." Niki leaned forward. "Did you know-"

"-About her and Mohinder?" Ava laughed. "I had NO idea! They're pretty damn good at keeping it a secret, huh?"

"Tell me about it!" Niki grinned. "I asked Mohinder about it later and he said they've been seeing each other for a couple of months. Apparently it started out as just a" she glanced towards the living room and then leaned towards Ava, whispering "sex thing. He told me that he caught her walking out of the A/V room late one night and when he asked her what she was doing there, she tackled him. They've been carrying on in secret since then and it started getting serious a couple of weeks ago."

"Wild." Ava's eyes widened. "Wait a minute. She was coming out of the A/V room?"

Niki giggled. "I know. I think she got overheated watching you and Sylar giving a live show or something. I wonder if Mohinder knows?"

"If she's hitting it right, I wonder if he even CARES!" Ava laughed as she turned off the stove and began to set the table. "So Hiro brought you guys here?"

"Yeah." Niki shrugged. "I think he's going to be busy as hell the next few weeks, teleporting us back and forth to work to keep Kane off of our tracks. I don't envy him."

"Me neither." Ava brought dinner into the dining room and set the food down. She looked up as Micah walked into the dining room with Sylar behind him. "Decided to join us for dinner?"

Sylar shrugged, not meeting her eyes as he sat down. "I'm hungry, even if it's for slop." His eyes widened as a knife flew at him, landing embedded, point first in the table in front of him. "HEY!" He glared at Ava.

Micah's eyes widened. "COOL!"

Ava leaned forward, her eyes blazing at Sylar. "If you're going to eat my cooking, you will NOT insult it again or the next time, that knife will be aimed at" she glanced at Micah "the Little Gladiator. Got it? We have guests, so behave yourself."

Sylar frowned at her as she sat down and began to eat. "Behave myself." He muttered. "Which one of us is throwing knives?"

Claude looked around at everyone, grinning as he began to eat his dinner. "This looks like it's shaping up to be a fun dinner!"


	12. Chapter 12: To the Mattresses

Chapter Twelve: To the Mattresses

May 12, 2007

Ava waved to Claude, Niki, Micah and Hiro as they quickly disappeared from the living room. Sighing, she turned and walked into the kitchen to wash dishes. She paused in the doorway, raising an eyebrow to see Sylar standing at the sink, taking care of the dishes himself. "Need any help? I usually rinsed them."

Sylar shrugged. "Fine."

Ava nodded and walked over to the sink, taking the soapy dishes he handed her and rinsing them off before placing them in a drying rack. "You and Micah seemed to bond this evening."

"He seems like a good kid." Sylar nodded. "It's a shame about his father."

"I never met D.L., but I heard that he was a good man. Niki misses him a lot. Peter's helped her pull herself back together, but you can tell that she still misses her husband."

"She seemed pretty upset today when Peter was brought into medical."

"It had to have been scary for her. She lost one husband almost six months ago, and as soon as she starts to pick up the pieces and see someone else, she nearly loses him as well."

"I can imagine." Sylar nodded as he handed her the final dish. He waited as she rinsed off that dish, the turned the faucet to himself, rinsing off his hands and drying them before returning to the living room. He sat on the couch and watched baseball as Ava entered the room and walked to the computer in the corner. "You do that every night. What are you doing?"

Ava glanced over at him. "Well, now that you know the truth about me, I can tell you. I check the news in Achille, Oklahoma."

"Why?" Sylar frowned.

"To see what's happening, see if my parents are ever mentioned."

"You never told me about them, not your REAL parents anyway."

"Actually, I did." Ava glanced over at him. "I just lied about their names. My father really is a bank president. His name is George Grant."

"And your mom really is a teacher?"

"She was. She," Ava paused for a moment, her expression turning sad "she retired after the incident at the prom."

"The bloodbath you created after you freaked out from finding out your boyfriend was schtupping your best friend."

"Yeah." Ava looked away. "She taught at the middle school. Apparently, after the incident and then after I 'died', she had a nervous breakdown. She and my father caught a lot of hell after that too, especially my mother. The mother's always to blame, right?" Ava laughed bitterly. "No one in the town knew EXACTLY what happened, but they did know that I apparently had something to do with it. They stayed in town and my dad kept his job, but my mom couldn't handle being shunned by everyone for the most part. Occasionally there's a story in the paper about what happened, they love dredging up the past there. Someone always tries to interview Mom, but they only get gibberish and weird ramblings from her. Dad always offers a 'no comment'."

"You were an only child."

"Yes, I was." Ava nodded as she turned to the computer screen. "There's also the occasional blurb in the news about Dad at bank meetings or chamber of commerce meetings. I like to keep up with him, at least. It's good to know that he's trying to keep up appearances and go on with his life, even if Mom hasn't."

"You feel guilty, don't you?"

"Wouldn't you? I destroyed my mother's life, my father's too to some degree, because I couldn't control my power. I destroyed a lot of lives that night."

"From what I read in the reports in your file, you couldn't exactly help it." Sylar studied Ava as she stared at the floor. "You had just manifested, you received a hell of a shock-"

"-And I should have run like hell into the woods or someplace else, rather than pull a _Carrie_." Ava sat up. "No use crying over it now though. I made my bed that night, I'm going to have to get used to lying in it for the rest of my life." She began to type on the keyboard, searching for stories in Achille.

Sylar watched her for a moment, then turned back to the baseball game. He turned again as he heard her gasp. "What is it?" He stood up as Ava got up and backed away from the computer, her face turning pale. "Ava, what's going on?" Ava looked at him, her eyes filling with tears as she shook her head and ran out of the room. "Ava!" He turned to the computer screen, his eyes widening as he read the headlines out loud. "'Local Housewife Found Dead in Home'. Oh shit." Sylar sat at the computer and read the story to himself.

_Brenda Elise Grant, aged fifty-seven was found dead yesterday afternoon in her home by husband George Elwood Grant, of an apparent suicide. Her body has been released to the funeral home after an autopsy by medical examiners . . ._

_. . . Mrs. Grant is well known in the community because of her daughter, Geneva Grant, one of the few survivors of the Achille High School Prom Massacre of 1997. Miss Grant was killed in a subsequent auto accident during transport to Cooper Psychiatric Hospital in Tulsa a week after the massacre. Many people suspect she had a hand in the tragedy, and she was due to be questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the hospital before the auto accident that took her life. Sheriff H.L. Dewey of Achille, when asked about Mrs. Grant's death as well as the circumstances surrounding her daughter's death stated "I never believed that Geneva could have been capable of such a thing. Anyone who knew her wouldn't believe it. Those allegations were just that, allegations. Neva was a sweet, gentle, caring girl and anyone who ever met her would agree with me on that. I don't think these questions are appropriate at a time like this. Brenda Grant was a good woman who had a terrible tragedy befall her. She never recovered from not only losing her daughter and never got over the horrible rumors that circulated after Neva's death." . . ._

_. . . Mrs. Grant was a former member of the Junior Service League as well as a former member of the Achille Beautification Society and the Oklahoma Historical League. She retired from teaching in 1997 after the death of her daughter. Funeral arrangements will be announced by her husband soon._

Sylar sat back, shaking his head. He turned, hearing the sound of Ava's sobs upstairs in her room. Sighing, he stood up and walked up the stairs, approaching her closed door. "Ava? Do you want to talk?"

"No." Her voice was muffled through the door, but Sylar could hear the choked sound. "I just want to be alone."

"Okay." Sylar sighed sadly and shook his head. "If you need anything-"

"-I need to be alone."

"Fine!" Sylar glared at the door. "Excuse the hell out of me for actually trying to give a shit!" He turned and went into his bedroom and slammed the door.

* * *

August 4, 1999 

Thompson walked into Primatech, glaring at Claude as he passed his desk. Claude glared back up at him, smirking at the bruise on the man's cheek. He laughed to himself as Thompson stomped past him into his office and slammed the door. Noah glanced at him. "What happened to his face?"

"Walked into a door, I suppose." Claude shrugged.

In his office, Thompson paced the floor angrily. Finally, he turned and picked up the phone, dialing it. "Mr. Nakamura, I need to speak with you, Mr. Linderman, Mr. Deveaux and Mrs. Petrelli as soon as possible in a conference call. Some distressing news about Agent Raines has come to my attention."

An hour later, Thompson smiled into his phone as he told the executives about Raines' hiding specials. His grin broadened as he received his orders on what to do with him. "It will be taken care of by tomorrow." Thompson nodded. "Thank you all." He hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair, smiling to himself. "Smack me around, will you?"

* * *

May 13, 2007 

Sylar glanced over at Ava as they appeared inside of the Primatech building with Hiro by their side. She hadn't spoken a word to him since she'd awakened that morning, after he'd heard her crying most of the night. She barely acknowledged Hiro when he'd appeared in their kitchen that morning, asking them to report to Primatech, even though it was Sunday. Her face was pale and drawn and she barely nodded as Hiro bowed to her and disappeared again, teleporting to Matt's house to bring him to work. Sylar followed Ava as she walked to a door and swiped her badge before placing her hand over scanner. "Agent 470512, Reese, Ava. Identity confirmed." Sylar smiled as the door opened and he quickly followed Ava through it. "That's pretty cool." He whispered.

"They beefed up security after it was breached last year." Ava glanced over at him, finally speaking. Her voice was as dull and lifeless as her expression. "First they had a hostile escape, guess who? Then three other captives escaped after one of them set off an EMP in the building."

"EMP? Sprague?" Sylar grinned to himself.

"He escaped with Bennet and Parkman after Thompson had them all thrown into cells together."

"Why was Bennet tossed into a cell?"

"Thompson wanted Claire brought in after he discovered that she'd manifested. He wasn't pleased that Noah hid her powers and when Noah helped her escape, he figured out that he was a part of it. Matt was tossed in because he and Noah had recently become partners and Thompson figured that he'd helped Noah with Claire's escape. Noah talked Matt through getting out of his cell, told him where to find Sprague and how to set off the EMP and then the two of them released Noah. They went to New York to find the Walker system AKA Molly Walker. That's where you found Sprague."

"And how I got his power." Sylar nodded. "Interesting story. So what would stop an EMP from going off now?"

"Nothing." Ava glanced at him again. "But all of the doors would automatically lock and heavy security doors would slide down to block off each room until an all-clear is issued and power is restored."

"I'd just melt the doors." Sylar shrugged. "If they beefed up this security just to keep me inside, they shouldn't have bothered."

"Like I said, it wasn't just for you." Ava nodded to her friends as she entered the offices and sat at her desk.

Sylar looked around. "Don't I get a desk?"

"You will soon." They turned as Noah walked out of his office. "First things first. There's a meeting we need to attend in the conference room. Now."

Sylar and Ava glanced at each other questioningly, then shrugged and headed towards the conference room. As they entered, Ava finally smiled to see Peter sitting at the table, holding Niki's hand. "Looks like someone's out of isolation!" She grabbed him and hugged him tightly, grinning. "So I take it they found out what you were poisoned with?"

"You could say that." Peter nodded at two chairs beside Niki. "Mohinder is supposed to be on his way here with the test results."

"Cool." Ava sat next to Niki with Sylar slowly taking a seat beside her. They looked up as Hiro entered the room with Matt and Ando, followed soon after by Angela, Kaito and Claude. Noah entered the room moments later with Claire, followed finally by The Haitian, Mohinder and a limping, pale Candice. Ava smiled up at the girl. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay." Candice winced as she sat down and leaned forward in her chair. "As long as I take my painkillers like a good girl and sleep on my stomach for the next week or two, I'll be wonderful."

Mohinder gently touched her shoulder and smiled down at her before he walked to the front of the room. "First things first: the toxins used on Peter yesterday have been identified. There were two distinctive neurotoxins found in the substance used on Peter by Kane. The first one is Dendrotoxin, usually found in mamba snakes."

"Snakes?" Sylar winced. "We have an anti-venin for that, right?"

"We will." Mohinder nodded. "I've already sent for doses of the SAIMR polyvalent antivenin that is used in treatment of mamba bites. Dendrotoxin is quick-acting, causes paralysis of the muscles before death and it's lethal, mainly due to the paralysis of the diaphragm."

"You suffocate to death." Ava whispered.

"Exactly." Mohinder frowned as he nodded. "The second venom found was Tetrodotoxin, which works similarly. It's mainly known as the venom found in puffer fish. It works the same was as the Dentrotoxin, paralyzing muscles throughout the body, including the heart and lungs, causing respiratory failure and cardiac arrest. It also causes seizures, as evidenced by Peter's reaction to the poison yesterday, along with hypotension, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain-"

"-tell me about it." Peter shuddered.

"Is there an antivenin for Tetrodotoxin?" Ava asked.

Mohinder stared at the floor for a moment before looking back at her and shaking his head. "No. The only course of treatment is aggressive cardiopulmonary management, keeping the heart beating and the lungs working manually if possible, and intravenous hydration to counteract the hypotension until the body can metabolize and remove the toxin naturally. Anticholinesterase agents have been used, but only with mixed results."

"So how do we fight this?" Matt frowned. "If Kane's spitting this stuff at us in a sticky-ass venom-"

"-We're going to give everyone kits with the mamba antivenin and portable CPR masks to be used on the battlefield on anyone who has been attacked with the poison, the masks-"

"-I know what the masks look like." Matt shook his head. "They're simple masks that will go over the face with a tube you shove in the person's mouth that you use to breathe through, I get it. HOW is that going to help us in a battle with Kane?" He looked around the room, his eyes wide. "Anyone else wondering this as well, or am I the only one?"

"It'll help the person who has been attacked keep an airway open and allow CPR to be performed without exposing the person performing the CPR to the toxins until Kane can be defeated and medical help can be sought." Mohinder sighed. "I know it's not much but-"

"-Damn right it's not much." Sylar sank back in his chair. "So there's eight of us fighting this guy right? According to your prophecy, eight of us are fighting him. One goes down and another one has to stop fighting to perform CPR while six fight. What's to stop all of us, with the exception of Claire and Peter from getting hit with this venom and dying while he beats the crap out of the two left, huh?"

"What do you want us to do, Sylar? Go with you into the battle?" Mohinder glared at him.

Peter looked up, his eyes widening. "The painting showed eight people FIGHTING, but it never said whether or not we had help on the sidelines."

"Excuse me?" Mohinder stared at him.

"Yeah." Peter nodded. "You had it right, Mohinder, but so did Sylar." He sat up. "The eight of us are FIGHTING. If one of us falls, we're really not going to be able to spare someone to stop fighting to start CPR. Who's to say that we CAN'T have a team standing by to jump in, drag the fallen one away and start medical treatment there?" He nodded. "You're a doctor."

"I'm a bloody geneticist, not an M.D. I can start IV's, but I don't know how to intubate someone."

"I do. I learned during nursing school. When I did my ER rotation, there was a doctor there that taught the nursing students how to do it. He felt that everyone needed to know how to intubate in a code situation, not just the doctor or respiratory therapist. He was a pretty innovative guy, actually. It's not the easiest thing in the world to do, but with the right medical training dummy, I could show you how." Peter smiled at The Haitian, Ando, Kaito, Angela, Noah, Mohinder and Claude. "I could show all of you. You could all be standing by on the sidelines until someone needs you. We can protect that person long enough for someone to grab them, pull them away and then continue the fight."

Angela smiled softly at her son. "Smart boy."

"Thanks Mom. I do have my moments." He winked at her.

"So antivenin is coming and we're now ordering a medical training dummy." Matt sighed. "Do we even KNOW when Kane's going to strike? He's here NOW, just waiting for one of us to slip up so he can pounce."

"We don't know when he'll strike," Noah nodded. "which brings me to the next part of this meeting. The people in this room are either included in the prophecy or" he laughed softly "apparently part of the support staff that will be on standby to provide medical treatment. Those of us here know the risks and have agreed to accept them, am I correct in assuming that?" He looked around the room as everyone nodded. "Good. Our families, on the other hand are innocent in this, but are perfect victims for Kane, as Kimiko's murder has shown us. I, as well as our two executives Angela and Kaito have agreed that our families need to be placed into hiding until after the battle is over."

"In hiding where?" Matt asked.

"A secret location, secret even from us, for the most part." Noah turned to The Haitian. "Our friend here has agreed to spirit away my wife and son, Micah, Molly and Janice to a location that will only be known to him and Hiro, who will teleport them there this afternoon."

"Wait." Matt shook his head. "Janice is expecting a baby in a little more than a month."

"She'll be safer hidden away, don't you agree?" Noah took off his glasses and leaned towards Matt. "Kane has seen you. He knows what you look like. Do you HONESTLY think that he'll spare her OR your unborn son if he finds a way to follow you home to kill you?" He smiled sadly at Matt as he groaned and sank down into his chair. "The Haitian has assured me that she will be given the best medical attention during the final days of her pregnancy and if she goes into labor while she's there, he will contact Hiro, who will teleport you to her location before she gives birth. You won't miss your son's birth if we can help it, Matt."

"Thanks." Matt nodded, his face ashen.

"You're welcome." Noah sighed. "Finally, once our families are moved, we'll all need to stay together in a central location." He turned to Ava and Sylar. "Think the farmhouse is big enough to hold all of us?"

Ava's eyes widened. "Maybe. There are four bedrooms, plus the living room and there is the basement. It'll be a tight squeeze, but we might all be able to fit there. Wouldn't it be safer to stay here, though?"

"I'd rather not." Noah frowned. "The security system here is rock-solid, but Kane could use it against us. Remember, if it's breached, heavy steel doors seal off every room until it's deemed safe again."

"I can melt through the doors." Sylar smirked.

"But can you do it fast enough if you're in one wing and Kane's attacking the rest of us in another on the other side of the building? Do you KNOW how many doors you'd have to melt through to get to us? Oddly enough, we'll be safer together in a less 'secure' environment. Also, once we all move there, the eight of you will need to start training together to be able to fight as a team. Ava and Claude are our two best-trained fighters. They'll be teaching you both."

"Great." Peter laughed. "Claude's going to be whipping out his big stick again."

"Nah, I just use that on the ladies. I will be grabbing my metal staff to smack you down again though." Claude winked as everyone laughed softly.

"When do we move in?" Niki asked.

"Tonight after our families have been taken to safety." Noah turned to Ava. "I know you were dealt a serious blow last night-"

"-Wait, HOW did you know?" Ava frowned.

Noah smiled softly at her. "You're not the only one who has kept up with the events in Achille. I'm sorry for your loss, Kid." He nodded as Ava looked away, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. "Can you and Sylar get the place ready for everyone by tonight?"

"Yeah, we can." Ava whispered.

"Thanks." Noah stood up. "Well, that does it for now. I don't know about the rest of you, but Claire and I are going to go home via Hiro to spend time with our family before they have to leave us for a while. I suggest you do the same. Meeting adjourned." He walked past Ava with Claire as she stood up. "How are you holding up, really?"

Ava shrugged, looking away. "Just another part of my life I can't ever return to now, that's all." She struggled to keep from crying as Noah reached out and hugged her gently.

"I'm still sorry. I know you blame yourself but-"

"-You can't say anything to make me feel better, okay?" Ava let him go, pulling back her shoulders. "I've got to deal with this on my own, I know."

"You don't have to deal with it completely alone. You have me, you have Claude, you have" he glanced over at Sylar for a moment "friends here who are more than willing to help you, I swear."

"I know." Ava took a deep breath. "I know."

* * *

August 4, 1999 

After lunch, Noah entered Thompson's office, frowning as he took a seat. "What's the problem?"

Thompson stared at him, his expression grave. "Did you help Claude hide Tomas Diego?"

"What?" Noah shook his head. "Hide him? What are you talking about?"

Thompson took a deep breath as he tried to keep himself from smiling. "It's come to my attention that Claude has been hiding people with special abilities, people that have the potential to be very dangerous."

"Why would he do that?" Noah shook his head sadly.

"I thought he was on board with our operation here and was willing to help protect an innocent world from finding out that people like him and Avery existed. Apparently I was wrong. He's more worried about protecting 'his' people from us." Thompson sighed sadly, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. "I've received evidence about it and I've had to turn it in. I just got orders from the top of the food chain, Noah. Claude is going to have to be eliminated. Can you do it?"

"Why me?" Noah frowned.

"He suspects that I know. He doesn't suspect you. You've been his partner for many years now, you've developed a rapport with him. I know this is going to be hard for you to do, but it's for the greater good."

"I know." Noah nodded sadly. "Morally gray, right?"

"Morally gray. Tell no one what you're about to do, especially Avery. Poor girl doesn't need to know what's about to happen."

"Avery." Noah looked up. "If she finds out that I've done this-"

"-She won't. What's about to happen is going to be just between the two of us. NO ONE outside of this room is to know what's really happened to him. It's bad for morale around here for that to get out, don't you think? She's out of the office today. This would be the right time to do it, don't you think? I'll tell her that he's been promoted and granted an immediate transfer when she comes in tomorrow."

"Okay." Noah slowly stood up, his expression torn as he left the office.

Thompson waited until the door closed and laughed. "I know you're here."

Claude materialized beside Thompson, glaring down at him. "You rotten bastard. You were planning on telling Ava that Noah killed me, weren't you? What's your plan, get rid of me and isolate her from Noah's confidence in one fell swoop?"

"You could say that." He held up a hand, glaring at Claude as the man raised his fist. "If you lay a fucking hand on me, Ava will be alone anyway." He smirked. "I've added to Diego's testimony, stating that Noah helped you hide him. If ANYTHING happens to me, you won't be the only one going down for your little crimes. Sandra, Lyle and Claire will be all alone because Daddy will disappear one day, just like his partner Claude."

"You son of a bitch." Claude hissed. "So what? You expect me to go along like a good little boy and just let Noah kill me?"

"Yes." Thompson laughed. "Hell, you can fake your death for all I care, just make it look good so Noah and Ava believe it. Run, Claude, run away. No one at the top here will believe that I've set you up, because you really HAVE been helping specials hide. No one will believe your stories about my extracurricular activities with Ava because they'll all think you're just blowing smoke up their asses to protect yourself. You're fucked, Claude." He leaned forward. "And if you try and tell Noah what I'm doing with Ava, you KNOW what I'll do to him, Ava and his family, except Claire. So, what's it going to be?"

"Fuck you." Claude disappeared.

Thompson smirked as the door to his office opened and closed as Claude slipped through it. "See you later, asshole."

* * *

May 13, 2007 

"So who's sleeping where?" Sylar followed Ava around as she cleaned the house and began to change the linens on the beds upstairs.

"Peter and Niki can be in one room. I'm sure Candice and Mohinder will want another. Angela and Claire can room together in here." Ava smoothed out the bedspread on one twin bed in the guest room before turning to the next one.

"And the master bedroom?"

"I don't know." Ava shrugged. "You can sleep in the bed and I'll grab a sleeping bag on the floor or vice versa."

"I see." Sylar frowned. "So you're moving back in here."

"Unless you have a better idea." Ava turned to him. "We don't have to share a bed, but I guess we're going to have to share the room, unless you'd rather turn it over to someone else and we can take sleeping bags to the basement or living room."

"Fuck that, this is my house, dammit!" Sylar crossed his arms in front of his chest. "We'll swap out nightly as to who takes the bed and who takes the floor in our room, I suppose."

"Fine." Ava turned and finished making the bed. "Noah, Hiro, Kaito, Ando, Matt, and Claude can figure out who gets the couch and who gets the sleeping bags then. Maybe someone will bring a few cots as well." She stretched and sighed. "This big house is going to be stuffed to the rafters by the time everyone gets here."

"We're almost literally going to the mattresses." Sylar smirked. "Great."

"Tell me about it." Ava turned and left the room, going to the bedroom she'd slept in the night before. "So can I put my clothes back in the master bedroom, or are you going to throw another sissy-fit at the idea of my shoes touching yours.

"I don't care." Sylar rolled his eyes.

"Good." Ava grabbed a pile of clothes the closet and shoved them into Sylar's arms. "Hang those."

"Please would be nice." Sylar muttered as he stomped to the master bedroom and quickly hung the clothes back into the closet.

* * *

Later that night, Sylar crept through the house, smirking as he passed the living room. Kaito was asleep on the couch, with Noah sacked out in the recliner, Mac curled up in his lap. Claude, Matt, Hiro and Ando were all lined up side by side on the floor in sleeping bags. Sylar went to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of milk, quickly downing it before tiptoeing back upstairs. As he entered the master bedroom, he glanced over at Ava as she slept on the bed before climbing into his own sleeping bag on the floor. Just as he began to drift off, he began to hear the distinctive sounds of a mattress and box spring squeaking rhythmically in the bedroom next door and heard the muffled sounds of Peter and Niki as they moaned softly. "Oh for crying out fucking loud." He muttered. He buried his head under a pillow to drown out the sound, cursing himself for ever meeting Dale Smithers, much less killing her as the sounds next door began to speed up. He finally sighed with relief as Peter and Niki both cried out and then became quiet. "Thank God." He closed his eyes, then started cursing again moments later when the squeaking started up again. "Asshole never hear of a refractory period!" 

"What are you talking about?" Ava murmured sleepily.

"You don't HEAR that?" Sylar hissed.

"Hear what? I don't have super hearing, remember?"

"Peter and Niki next door." Sylar sat up, glaring at the wall. "Tell me you DON'T hear what they're doing in there."

Ava sat up and shook her head. "No, I don't. Getting jealous?"

"No." Sylar lay back down and gritted his teeth until the moans and squeaking finally stopped again. "Maybe they'll stop for the night now."

"Maybe. Probably not if they're anything like we used to be." Ava rolled over. "Sweet dreams."

"Kiss my ass." Sylar grumbled. He tossed and turned in his sleeping bag, punching at his pillow. Ava had been correct. The sounds coming from the room next door had been pure torture for him as he remembered making the same noises many times with the woman lying on the bed just a few feet from him. Finally, he climbed out of the bag and walked to the bed. "Hey."

Ava rolled over, staring at him blearily. "What?"

"Scoot over, you're on my side."

Ava sat up. "I'm not getting in that damn bag. It's not my night and we flipped a coin, remember?"

"Oh hush and scoot over, I can't sleep alone." Sylar shrugged. "I still hate you, I still want to smack the living hell out of you as soon as look at you, but quite frankly, I'm not used to not sleeping next to you, so will you scoot so I can get some sleep?"

"You slept fine without me last night."

"No. I didn't." Sylar sighed. "Are you going to make me beg or something?"

"No, but a please would be nice." Ava smirked as Sylar glared at her.

"Please scoot over, dammit." Sylar growled.

"That's better." Ava slid over as Sylar climbed into the bed beside her. "Good night."

"Yeah, whatever." Sylar turned his back to her and closed his eyes, still frustrated at the feelings that were awakening, just lying beside her. "Just because I'm lying here beside you, doesn't mean anything has to happen."

"I totally agree." Ava turned her back to him and yawned.

"I'm serious. Nothing's happening. We're just going to sleep." Sylar muttered.

"Fine." Ava murmured. "So sleep already."

"I will." Sylar punched his pillow, turning for a moment to stare at her back as she dozed off. "Yeah, I will. Sleep. Definitely." He lay on his back and stared at the ceiling as he listened to the even sound of Ava's breathing. As his sensitive hearing picked up the sounds of Peter and Niki making love again, Sylar groaned. "This is going to be one long, fucking night."


	13. Chapter 13: Truce and Consequences

Chapter Thirteen: Truce and Consequences

May 14, 2007

Ava finally rolled over after a couple of hours, sighing with frustration as Sylar turned over and punched his pillow for, what seemed to her, the hundredth time. "Will you please go to sleep? I'm getting seasick."

"I can't sleep." Sylar muttered as he rolled over and stared at the ceiling.

"I know." Ava shrugged as Sylar glanced at her. "You keep forgetting that I can sense what you're desiring. I know what you want to do to me, in what ways you want to do it and just how intense that desire is."

"Great." Sylar rolled his eyes. "So you know-"

"-Yeah and I have to say, and I don't mean to brag, but my legs really can bend that far back." Ava rolled over onto her side, smiling at Sylar. "Wanna find out if I'm telling the truth?"

"You've GOT to be kidding me."

"What?" Ava sat up on her elbow, looking down at him. "We don't have to be in love to have hot sex, Sylar. Hell, we really don't even have to like each other very much."

"What about hate?" Sylar glared at her. "Does hate fit into that anywhere?"

"It could." Ava sighed as she lay back against the pillows. "Look, I'm frustrated too. I'm tired, I'm beaten, my face is still killing me from our fight, but I'm also horny as hell, okay? We both know that we know very well how to 'handle' the other person. We know exactly what to do and how to do it to ease off the tension that's building up in this bed right now. Let's just do it, get it over with and get rid of this tension and frustration so we can BOTH get some sleep. What do you say?"

"I say I'd rather go down the hall and screw Angela Petrelli than have sex with you right now." Sylar growled as he turned his back to her.

"FINE!" Ava glared at his back. "But I swear to God, if you bounce around on this mattress, sigh with frustration, and hit that pillow one more fucking time, I'm going to kick your ass!" She turned her back to him and closed her eyes. A few minutes later, her eyes slowly opened as the mattress shook again. The moment she heard the sound of a pillow getting punched, coupled with a frustrated groan, she drew her legs to her chest and kicked out behind her.

"OUCH!" Sylar sat up, grabbing his lower back. "What the FUCK?"

Ava sat up and turned around, glaring. "I told you if you tossed and turned again, I would kick your ass, I just didn't tell you that I would be doing it literally!"

"That shit HURT!"

"GOOD! Now lie down, stay still and sleep! I'm sick to death of you bouncing all over this mattress like a five year old hopped up on sugar and caffeine because you're so horny you can't sleep! Either screw me or go into the bathroom, get a bottle of lotion and take care of yourself, I don't care, but you will NOT keep me awake just because you can't get off!" She frowned as Sylar stared at her, his eyes glittering dangerously. "What? You gonna try and retaliate now?"

She gasped as he leaped forward and pulled her to him. Their eyes locked for a moment as Sylar dug his fingers into her lower back, listening to the sound of both of their hearts as they began to speed up. Finally, with a growl he kissed her intensely, his hands sliding under her tank top to caress the sensitive place on her lower back. Ava moaned and arched her back as his fingers kneaded the spot, letting his lips slide down her neck. She closed her eyes as she ran her fingers through his hair, trembling as she felt his lips on her neck and shoulders. "Ava." He whispered. She opened her eyes and looked at him. "Say the 'L' word and I'm ending this now, understand? I don't love you, I don't want you to love me, I just want this."

"What about lust? Is that a word I can use?"

Sylar laughed deeply as he crushed his lips to hers for a moment. "You can use that word all night long."

"Good." Ava pulled off her tank top as she and Sylar lay on the bed together, their hands traveling over each other's bodies."

In their bedroom, Peter stared at the ceiling as he lay next to an equally awake Niki. "Those two need a shit load of therapy." He muttered.

"Tell me about it." Niki laughed softly as the sound of the headboard slamming hard against the wall began to echo in their room. "Until then, wanna give them a run for their money?"

* * *

August 4, 1999

"Yes, I'd like to speak to Mr. Nakamura please." Claude hissed into his cell phone as he paced a hall in Primatech. "I know he's in a meeting but this is Claude Raines, he knows who I am. Just tell him that he was misled by Mr. Thompson and, hello?" Claude sighed as he hung up his phone. He leaned against a wall, shaking his head. He was screwed and he knew it. He had only two choices now, really. He could either fake his death or let Bennet actually kill him. Either option meant having to find Noah and take that car ride with him. "Bloody fuck." He muttered. He turned and walked down a hall, suddenly disappearing as he made his way into the tactical area. He grabbed two bullet-proof vests, shaking his head. He and Noah both carried hollow-point bullets in their guns, bullets that could penetrate body armor. He knew that one vest wouldn't protect him and that there was a good possibility that two wouldn't do much either. "Gotta find a way to make him think I'm dead so I can go on the run." He shook his head. "Run until I'm able to clear my name." He took off his shirt and put on both vests, tucking his cell phone behind both of them for safe keeping before pulling his shirt back on over both of them.

* * *

May 14, 2007

"Oh GOD YES!" Sylar moaned loudly, his breathing fast and ragged as he collapsed on top of Ava. He smiled as he rolled over, staring at the ceiling. "I think I can sleep like a baby now." He whispered.

"Really?" Ava snuggled up to him, nibbling on his ear. "Suddenly I'm wide awake and feeling like we're just getting started." She giggled. "Hell of a way to end a fight, huh?"

"Definitely." Sylar looked over at her, smiling in spite of himself. "I'm loathe to admit this, but I missed you."

"I missed you too." Ava lay back, smiling as she watched the blades of the ceiling fan slowly rotate above them. "I know that you think the things I've done to you were out of hatred or malice, but they weren't."

"Ava, don't-"

"-I have to say it, okay?" She turned to him. "I'm not going to use the 'L' word, but I don't hate you. I didn't hate you when I went into that hospital room to claim you as my husband, I didn't hate you when we became lovers here, I didn't even hate you when I had to fight back from your attack a few days ago and I don't hate you now. I know you don't want anything more, I know you're pissed as hell at me, and I can handle that. Quite frankly, right now, I'm willing to take you any way I can get you."

"Okay." Sylar looked away. "Just don't tell me about it. I don't want to know about your damn feelings."

"Not even if those feelings include me doing extremely x-rated things to you with whipped cream?" Ava teased.

"That's an exception." Sylar laughed softly. "THOSE feelings you can express all day long."

"So this is what we'll be now, right? Friends with benefits?"

"Yeah, except for the friends part." Sylar glanced over at her, shrugging. "No offense."

Ava smirked. "None taken." She lay on her side, studying him for a moment before she rolled over, turning her back to him as she closed her eyes. "I think you're right. I think I can sleep very well now too."

"Me too." Sylar turned his head and looked at her, his eyes traveling down her naked body as she lay next to him, studying the curve of her back and the way her hair fell across her pillow. He reached out his hand to touch one of the copper-colored locks, then snatched his hand away and rolled over, closing his eyes as he dozed off.

* * *

August 4, 1999

Claude struggled to stay quiet as he clung to the underside of the bridge, his chest throbbing with pain. He shook his head, stunned and heartbroken as he realized that his now former partner and best friend had actually gone through with shooting him. Cursing Thompson under his breath, he waited until he heard Bennet's car start up and drive away, then painfully pulled himself back up onto the bridge, shaking as more pain ripped through his chest. He stumbled into the brush beside the bridge and lay back, opening his shirt. After he pulled off the bulletproof vests, he stared at his injuries. Both bullets had pierced the vests and were lodged just below the skin in his chest. He sighed with relief, realizing that his injuries weren't life threatening, just bloody as hell. He was also relieved to see that his cell phone had survived the shooting. Pulling it out, he dialed a number, his heart pounding.

Two hours later, a car pulled up to the bridge. Claude watched as Ava stepped out of it, searching for him. He crept up behind her and clamped his hand over her mouth, both of them turning invisible as she shrieked with surprise. "It's just me." He hissed. "Come on, you've got to get me out of here and then we're both hauling ass."

Ava turned as he slowly took his hand away from her mouth. She stared at his shirt, gasping at the dried blood across the front of it. "What happened?"

"I'll explain everything later. Let's go. Now." He stepped away from her, letting her materialize and followed her to her car. She opened the driver's side and let him painfully climb into the passenger's side through it, groaning at the throbbing in his chest as he sat back in his seat. He turned to Ava. "Just drive."

Ava nodded and started her car, her hands shaking as she pulled onto the road. "Okay, I found you, I've picked you up, now what's going on?"

"I confronted Thompson about the two of you." Claude shook his head as Ava glared in his direction. "I followed him to your apartment and watched him go inside. I beat the living shit out of him after he came out. He retaliated by telling the 'executives' that I was hiding people with abilities like ours." He sighed. "What you heard about me was true. I've been doing that."

"Why?" Ava asked.

"Why did I beat Thompson, or why have I been hiding specials? I'll answer both, Luv. I beat Thompson because the idea of him touching you and forcing you to-" he shook his head "-I couldn't take it anymore. I have no children, no brothers or sisters, but I think of you as my daughter, my niece, my sister, you ARE my family. I couldn't stand the thought of you having to put up with his abuse any longer. I acted rashly, I see that now. I should have just killed him when I had the chance. As for hiding people like us, I did it because I was tired of watching our people get eviscerated." Ava's eyes widened as Claude laughed bitterly. "That's what we do. Why do you think we bring people back to Primatech, eh? What do you think happens to the ones that are deemed to dangerous to release back into society? You think we have a special jail somewhere for them? No, the only future those people have is on an autopsy table, being poked and prodded while scientists figure out what makes them tick, inside and out. I couldn't stand it any more, so I started hiding others like us. I'm not sorry I did it."

"So what happened after Thompson told our 'executives' about you?"

"They ordered him to exterminate me. He ordered Bennet to do it." Claude whispered.

"WHAT?" Ava slammed on the brakes. "NOAH did this? That son of a-"

"-DON'T!" Claude materialized beside her, his eyes filling with tears. "Don't hate him for this. That's what Thompson wants, you see?"

"What?" Ava shook her head. "How can you forgive Noah for this? He SHOT you? Thompson-"

"-Thompson ordered HIM to do it, knowing you'd find out and hate him for it. He wants you alienated from Noah, he wants you alienated or separated from anyone who would care about or protect you. He wants you to only be able to turn to him for anything." Claude shook his head. "Noah doesn't know Thompson's true motives."

"He will when I get finished with him." Ava's face twisted with anger.

"No." Claude sighed. "Don't you see? I LET Bennet shoot me, Ava."

"What?" Ava's eyes filled with tears. "Why would you let him do that?"

"So I could run. So WE could run. We're leaving together, you and I."

"We're running?" Ava smiled softly. "We'll get away from Thompson?"

"Thompson, Nakamura, anyone we can. We're going to get out of this life now, together. I don't know what'll happen, but I can't leave you here for Thompson. We'll find a way to make new lives for ourselves somehow. Once things die down a bit, we'll try and go to whomever we can to tell the truth about what's going on. Nakamura might listen to us eventually."

"Or Linderman." Ava whispered. "He seemed reasonable enough, and Thompson told me once that Linderman wouldn't like what we were doing. He told me once that if I ever told you or Noah what was happening, or if I told Mr. Linderman, he'd have you both killed before Linderman could send people to kill HIM." Ava gasped as she took Claude's hand. "We can go to Noah and tell him the truth, try and get him and his family to hide while we go to Linderman and tell him-"

"-No." Claude whispered. "We can't let Noah in on this. He can never know what you and Thompson were doing, Ava."

"Why not?" Ava frowned.

"Thompson told me that if I told Noah, if I told anyone, he'd kill Noah, Sandra, and Lyle and take Claire." Claude looked at her sadly. "He implied that he would do to Claire what he's been doing to you."

"Oh my God." Ava leaned back in her seat, tears streaming down her cheeks. "She's just a kid."

"I know. He's a sick bastard, I'll give him that. He also told me that he's altered the evidence against me, making it seem like Noah was in on it." Claude smirked. "If we go after him to kill him, the higher ups get the evidence and Noah's in dutch." His smirk faded to a frown as Ava turned to him, his expression miserable. "What?"

"I can't go." She burst into sobs as Claude began to shake his head. "If he has that altered evidence, don't you think he'll turn it in if I leave with you, just to get back at us? He'll have Noah killed and-" She closed her eyes as she slumped forward, leaning on her steering wheel as her body shook with sobs. "-he'll go after that girl. No one will be able to protect her."

"Shit." Claude sighed. "You're serious, aren't you? You're staying here?"

"I have to." Ava sobbed. "I can't leave and let that girl take my place with Him. I couldn't live with myself if that happened. I've already cost one friend his life in a way, I can't let Noah die too and leave his daughter to suffer."

"Ava-"

Ava sat up, her expression determined as she wiped away tears. "I'll take you back to my apartment and help you get cleaned up. Do you have money, a way to escape?"

Claude nodded sadly. "Yeah. I've got a secret stash hidden away and a car. Are you sure about this?"

"I am." Ava began to drive again towards her apartment in Lubbock. "I can't leave Noah and his family to be punished for our leaving."

Neither of them spoke during the drive to Lubbock, and neither spoke in Ava's apartment as she tearfully cleaned and bandaged the wounds on his chest after quickly digging the bullets out from under his skin. She found an oversize tee shirt of hers and handed it to Claude, her mouth quivering as Claude put it on. He looked down at her, his expression tortured as he walked towards the door. As he reached it, he pulled her close, hugging her tightly. "Be safe." He whispered, his voice strangled.

"You too." She fought tears as he chucked her gently under the chin. "If you need ANYTHING-"

"-I'll find a way to contact you." Claude looked away for a moment, struggling to keep his composure.

"Are we ever going to see each other again?" Ava shook her head as she choked back a sob.

"Undoubtedly. You think I'm going to stay away from my favorite girl forever?" Claude leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I've got to go. Knowing Thompson, he's got someone watching this place. You don't need to get into more trouble than you probably already are for helping me."

"Okay." Ava watched as Claude disappeared. Her door opened as she heard his footsteps echo in the hallway. She quickly closed the door and leaned against it, sliding into a heap on the floor as she finally gave up struggling with her tears and let them come in deep, wracking sobs. She had never felt more heartbroken or alone in her life.

* * *

May 14, 2007

Sylar strolled downstairs the next morning, nodding to Claude, Hiro, Matt and Ando as they sat at the dining room table, blearily drinking coffee. As he went into the kitchen, Claude rolled his eyes. "Bloody bastard. It sounded like their bed was about to come crashing down into the living room, they way they carried on."

"I know." Hiro sighed. "Much too loud."

"Can't say they're not enthusiastic." Matt smirked.

They all turned as Kaito and Noah stumbled into the dining room. "Morning." Kaito growled. "Did all of you hear-"

"Yeah." They all said in unison, nodding.

"You'd think they'd have a small bit of decency, for crying out loud." Noah sighed. "I've known that girl since she was barely seventeen. I don't need to hear her doing that."

"Now you know how I felt in London, Bub." Claude rubbed his eyes sleepily. "And I thought she was too bloody loud with Brighton. T'was nothing compared to the noises coming from the bedroom last night."

They all turned to glare at Sylar as he strolled into the dining room, sipping a cup of coffee. He stopped, staring at them as Peter, Niki, Claire and Angela walked sleepily downstairs. "What?"

"What?" Peter smirked. "You two going at it last night, that's what." He yawned. "God I hope there's coffee left." He headed towards the kitchen with Niki and Angela following behind him.

"Oh, like YOU have room to talk!" Sylar glared towards the kitchen door. "You and Niki were going at it too, you know!"

"True." Claire crossed her arms in front of her chest. "There was quite the rendition of dueling headboards last night, but at least I didn't hear Peter and Niki moaning 'Oh God yes, Baby yes, don't stop, harder, harder, take it you bitch.'."

Noah choked on his coffee and began to cough. "Excuse me, Young Lady?"

Claude laughed heartily. "Quite the mouth on your daughter there!" He glanced over at Sylar. "And quite the mouth on you as well!"

"It wasn't SYLAR who was saying THAT!" Claire rolled her eyes. "My parents might have cable and I might not have led THAT much of a sheltered life, but I'm still only sixteen years old and I didn't need to hear that while I was trying to sleep. A little consideration would be nice."

"Tell me about it." Angela leaned in the kitchen doorway. "I don't need to hear that sort of thing ever, especially not when I'm trying to sleep and MOST especially when I'm trying to sleep in the same room as my granddaughter!" She turned to Peter. "And you and your girl should remember that as well. Try and keep it down for crying out loud!"

"Yes ma'am." Peter responded as he turned to Niki and shrugged. "I thought we were keeping it down."

"You weren't." Angela snapped.

Sylar rolled his eyes. "Don't just yell at ME about it, Ava's on her way down here too and she's the one who was moaning all that stuff, give her hell as well."

"Oh, we intend to." Kaito nodded. "Another night like the last one and I'll be moving to the basement."

"You know," Sylar set his coffee cup down on the table with a bang. "This is still MY house and I can do what I want in it and as LOUDLY as I want. You're MY guests, remember that."

"No, that's where you're wrong." Angela's eyes narrowed. "This house belongs to the OWI, which means you are MY guest, mine and Kaito's. If the four of you," she turned and glared at her son and Niki again "can't keep your nighttime antics to yourselves, YOU'LL be the ones in the god-damned basement, understand?"

"You MUST be talking about Sylar and Ava." Mohinder yawned as he trudged into the dining room with Candice.

"I think she's talking about Peter and Niki too." Candice grinned. "At least WE behaved ourselves."

"You're stitched up to hell and back, Darling. I wouldn't dare ravage you in that condition." Mohinder kissed her cheek.

"Yeah, but after listening to last night's double-feature, I might have to end up ravaging you." Candice giggled as she walked into the kitchen.

Mohinder turned to Sylar. "And how is Ava's bitch this morning? You two were quite um, vocal, especially her."

"And here's the potty-mouth herself." Claude laughed as Ava bounced down the stairs. "You look bloody chipper, I wonder what could be the cause of that?"

"What do you mean?" Ava looked around innocently.

"They heard us." Sylar shrugged.

"Oh." Ava blushed. "Too loud, huh?" She smiled bashfully as everyone nodded. "I'll keep it down from now on, I promise." She ducked her head down, her ears turning as red as her hair as she entered the kitchen.

Peter turned to her as she waited her turn at the coffee pot. "So you and Sylar-"

"-Yeah, sort of." Ava poured herself a cup after Candice slipped out of the room. "We're technically just friends with benefits though."

Peter nodded. "At least you are as far as HE'S concerned. You on the other hand-" He grinned as Ava shot him a look. "-Hey, whatever works, right?"

"I guess." Ava raised an eyebrow. "Hey I've had worse with worse people, at least he's good at what he does." She turned as Noah entered the kitchen and nodded. "I really am sorry. I'll make sure we keep it down from now on, my hand to God."

Noah nodded. "Thank you. I'd appreciate it if Claire didn't have new phrases to add to her vocabulary from now on, but that's not what I want to talk to you about." He leaned against a counter. "I checked the internet this morning when I got up. Your mother's funeral is this afternoon at three. If you'd like to go-"

"-I don't know." Ava shook her head. "I don't want to be seen there. Do you have any idea what kind of pandemonium that would cause?"

"You don't have to be seen." They turned to see Claude standing in the doorway. "Hiro can teleport us and I can keep us invisible. You need to go, Avery."

"Avery Reese doesn't have a mother."

"Yes, but Geneva Grant did. You should go, you'll regret it if you don't." Claude looked at her as he nodded. "You should go for your own peace of mind, don't you think?"

Ava sighed as she stared at the floor. "Geneva Grant died ten years ago, Claude."

"Technically yes." Claude looked at her pointedly. "But you should still say goodbye to your mother. You never got a chance to do that before."

Ava looked up at him, then at Noah. Finally, she nodded. "I'll go, but only if I can stay invisible."

"I'll make sure of that." Claude walked over to her and hugged her for a moment. "You'll feel better once you can say a proper goodbye."

"I hope so." She looked over Claude's shoulder to see Sylar coming into the kitchen. He stopped, staring at them for a moment before he turned and walked out of the room. "Sylar." She let Claude go and started after him, only to be stopped by Claude.

"I'll talk to him." He shrugged. "I've been meaning to have a chat with the jackass anyway."

* * *

August 5, 1999

Ava sat in the conference room, her expression calm as Noah and The Haitian sat across from her. She looked at Thompson coolly as he entered the room and sat down at the head of the table. He templed his fingers under his chin for a moment as he took a deep breath. "I have an announcement to make, one that is difficult for me to say."

"Go ahead." Ava nodded.

Thompson stared at her for a moment, his brow furrowing before he sighed. "It came to my attention recently that Agent Raines was going behind our backs and working against the company." As Noah looked away uncomfortably, Thompson shook his head in mock-sadness. "I received word from higher up to have him removed from the company permanently. Unfortunately, the three of you know what that means." He sighed. "Agent Bennet terminated Agent Raines yesterday afternoon." As Noah turned to Thompson, his face darkening with fury, Thompson turned to Ava. "Now, Avery I know you and Claude were very close but-"

Ava raised an eyebrow. "-If Claude was working against us, he had no place here." She turned to Noah, her expression neutral as he stared at her, his eyes widening. "You did what you had to do, Agent Bennet. It's up to us, all of us to work in the best interests of the company. My personal feelings for Agent Raines aside, you did what was right." She turned to Thompson. "Correct?"

Thompson goggled at her, stunned. "Yes, Avery. Noah did what was right." Frustrated and shocked he shook his head as he turned back to Noah. "From today on, this is your new partner." He pointed to The Haitian who nodded wordlessly. "Agent Reese has been promoted to covert operations. It will be her job from now on to go in after a dangerous hostile has been identified and eliminate them." He glanced at Ava as she stared up at him innocently. "How does that promotion strike you?"

Ava nodded. "As long as I don't have to get to know the hostile or spend an extended amount of time with him or her before extermination, I'm totally down with it." She jerked her chin up at Thompson haughtily. "You promised me that would never happen again. You, Noah, and others."

"I know we did." Thompson stared at her, still confused at her chilly reaction to Claude's 'death.' "Your jobs will be quick and easy."

"Fine." She took a deep breath, her eyes scanning quickly over Noah and The Haitian. "So, meeting adjourned?"

Thompson's eyes widened again as he nodded. "Meeting adjourned." He watched as she calmly stood and walked out of the room. "What the hell?"

"My thoughts exactly!" Noah turned to him, glaring. "You told me that you weren't going to tell her my part in Claude's termination!"

"I changed my mind, executive decision." Thompson snarled. He looked again at the closed door she'd just swept out of. "If she took Claude's death this well, and he was undoubtedly the one that she was closest to, how easily could she take the rest of us out?"

"I don't ever want to find out." Noah stood up and left the conference room. He searched Primatech for her and found her in her old room near the high-security cells. As he entered her room, his heart sank as she spotted him and turned away, hastily wiping away tears. "Ava, I'm sorry-"

"-I know." Ava slowly stood up and walked over to him. "I never pegged you for being Thompson's bitch."

"What?" Noah shook his head. "What are you talking about?"

Ava hugged him. "I don't hate you for what you did, I know it wasn't your fault but I have to tell you something now. Please keep it to heart." She whispered softly. "I love you like a brother, or a father, just as much as I loved Claude. You two have always been the only two people who've kept me going and made me want to stay alive. You're the only family I have and now YOU are the only person I have left. Never trust Thompson. Never believe what he says and if Claire ever manifests? Never, ever tell him if you value her at all." She let Noah go, smiling sadly. "I love you, Noah."

He studied her face, shaking his head. "I love you too, Ava. You know you're like my family as well."

"I know." She kissed him on the cheek as she left the room. "I suppose I need to prepare for my next assignment." She turned back to Noah. "If I seem cold and distant from now on, remember it's not really me. I'm protecting you just as much as you've always protected me."

"Okay." Noah watched her, shaking his head as she left the room.


	14. Chapter 14: The Only Family that Matters

Chapter Fourteen: The Only Family that Matters

May 14, 2007

Sylar stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. As he walked into the bedroom, he jumped back, startled as Claude materialized on his bed. "What the hell?"

"I could be asking you the same thing." Claude leaned back on his elbows. "What the hell is wrong with you, eh?"

"What are you talking about?" Sylar grabbed a change of clothes and walked back into the bathroom to dress.

"What I'm talking about is the way you treat Ava." Claude stood and followed Sylar into the bathroom. "You say you hate her, you beat the living crap out of her-"

"-Correction, SHE beat the living crap out of ME. Which one of us has the broken nose that's going to have to be surgically fixed?" He pointed to his splinted, swollen nose.

"Which one attacked first, asshole?" Claude leaned in the doorway as Sylar glared at him. "I don't recall hearing that Ava was the one on the offensive there, it was you. She was defending herself, nothing more. Besides, her nose is broken too."

"Yeah, but hers is set straight." Sylar looked around. "Do you mind? I'd like to get dressed please."

"I'm not stopping you. You've got nothing I haven't got, trust me." Claude stared at the ceiling as Sylar shrugged, pulled off his towel and dried off. "Anyways, you beat the crap out of her, you blow hot and cold with her. When you're not glaring at her or sulking like a five year-old or starting fights with her, you're staring at her like a lovesick puppy, banging her all night long like a screen door in a bloody hurricane, and acting like a jealous ass whenever I hug her or speak to her."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sylar pulled his clothes on and tried to step past Claude.

"No?" Claude blocked the younger man's way.

"No." Sylar shook his head.

"So you're telling me that you're NOT always looking at Ava like you're a diabetic and she's got the last bit of insulin in the world? You're telling me that you didn't storm off in a huff when I hugged her downstairs, or that you looked like you wanted to strangle me when I first got back here and she ran into my arms?"

"What do I care that the two of you used to have something going on, or still do for that matter?"

"You watch your bloody mouth!" Claude glared at him. "I don't know what ideas you have about me and Ava, but you've got the wrong ones, I can assure you that." He stepped aside while grabbing Sylar's arm. Herding him into the bedroom, he shoved him roughly towards the bed. "Sit your ass down."

"I don't have to take this from you, you know." Sylar looked up at him as he sat on the bed. "I could easily kick your ass."

Claude started laughing. "What you gonna do, take my head off? Do you forget how many people are in this house with special powers? One peep from me and they'll charge up here like the bloody cavalry. Try fighting all of them at once. Oh wait, you have fought a few of them at once haven't you? How'd that turn out again?" Sylar narrowed his eyes at him as Claude smirked. "Now sit down, shut up, and listen, you whiny little shit. Ava is the only family I have. She's like my daughter, sister, and niece rolled up into one. I never have had any kind of affair with her and never will. It would be incestuous, as far as I'm concerned."

"Whatever." Sylar rolled his eyes.

"No, not 'whatever', you little snot, it's the truth. Noah, Thompson and I were the ones who recruited her into the OWI, though God knows now I wish I could go back, sneak her out of that fucking mental hospital they had her in and hide her away before Thompson could have gotten his nasty hands on her. It was Noah's job and mine to help her come to terms with her power and teach her how to use it properly, or at least use it in a way to benefit the OWI. We became close, but not in the way your nasty mind has been going. Noah and I were the only ones she could talk to or confide in. She was seventeen bloody years old, had just killed a gymnasium full of her friends, had to fake her death, leave her family behind and learn to be an assassin. She had to have someone to turn to, especially when that fuck Thompson started in on her. She kept it hidden for a while, longer than I would have thought possible, but after London, I found out about the two of them. I was the one who was there during her assignment in London with O'Rourke. I was the one she called after she had to kill him and I was the one who found her in that shit hole of a hotel she'd gone to when she wanted to kill herself after she killed the man she'd fallen in love with. I saved her life, taking her to the hospital to have her stomach pumped. I tried to save her again, by attacking Thompson and threatening to kill him if he ever touched her again. She paid me back by helping me escape when he ordered Noah to kill me. The last seven years of my life have been spent clearing my name so I could resume my life and reconnect with her, but once again, not as a lover, but as her friend, as her family. She IS my family, she and Noah both and we're hers, the only family that truly matters. It makes me sick to know that you think that I'm interested her in any other way. It makes me sick to know that you've been treating her so badly when you obviously care more for her than you want to admit. It makes me sick to know that she's probably going to get her heart broken again, this time by your unworthy ass, and there's nothing I can do to stop it, and this time, even I won't be able to save her from what she might do to herself when you do break her heart."

"So what do you want me to do about it?" Sylar glared at him.

"I want you to either shit or get off of the fucking pot where she's concerned. You either love her or you don't-"

"-I don't-"

"-You either want her or you don't, but don't continue jerking her around. If you don't want her, let her go completely. Stop staying in the same room with her, move to the basement and be a gentleman for once in your life. Stop sleeping with her and acting like a jealous ass around me, stop mooning over her when her back is turned. Just stop."

"Or?" Sylar smirked.

"Or as soon as this battle with Kane begins and ends, you and I will have a reckoning. Either love her or let her go, but stop blowing hot and cold with her. Do you understand me?"

"What could YOU do to ME?"

"Ask young Mr. Petrelli down there what happens when I get pissed off, or Noah, or Ava for that matter. I'd tell you to ask Thompson, but he's dead, unfortunately not by my hand. I'm not someone to be trifled with, and when you trifle with my family, you trifle with me, understand? Have I gotten through that thick skull of yours?" Claude glared at Sylar for a moment before he turned on his heel and left the room.

Sylar groaned as he lay back on the bed, Claude's words running through his head. Since he'd gotten his memory back, he'd struggled with his feelings for Ava. He hated her for lying to him and there were so many times that he wanted nothing more than to lift his finger, take off her skull and kill her, taking her extraordinary power for himself. There were other times though that he remembered what their life was like together before he remembered his past as Sylar. He thought about his life with her as 'Aaron Abbott', mild-mannered timepiece repairman and restorer. He tried so hard to push away the memories of what it was like to hold her at night, to make love to her, to LOVE her completely and wholly. In so many ways, when he was 'Aaron', he was like his old self as Gabriel Gray, before Chandra Suresh had entered his life and made him realize his true evolutionary potential, only better than he was as Gabriel. He had a woman that he loved, who loved him back. He didn't doubt Ava's words, he didn't doubt that she loved him as 'Alexandra' and loved him still. He wanted to love her back, wanted to have things with her the way they were before he remembered who he really was, but in his heart, he knew that was impossible. They couldn't go back, HE couldn't go back, not now that he remembered his true self. As Gabriel, as Aaron, he could love her with all of his heart, as Sylar, his love would mean nothing but death or heartbreak for her.

"I have to let her go." He whispered to himself, feeling his own heart break with that realization.

* * *

March 11, 2000

Prague

She slipped silently through the streets, stalking her prey. Dressed in black, her fiery hair tucked under a black cap, she followed the man as he walked home. At one point he turned around, checking over his shoulder and she'd slipped quickly into the shadows, watching him as he shook his head and continued walking. She watched him enter his home and watched as lights turned on throughout the small apartment. Slinking around the building, she tested the back door, smirking to notice that he'd left it unlocked. "Stupid ass." She muttered as she crept inside. She could hear classical music playing as she passed quietly through the kitchen and peeked into the living room. He was sitting with his back to her, reading a newspaper. Concentrating, she pushed out with her mind and listened as he began to gasp. He sat forward, clutching at his chest for a moment as she walked into the living room. "Dr. Karevsky." She whispered.

He looked up at her, his face turning dark red as he struggled to breathe. "What do you want?"

"Your research. Where is it?"

"Who do you work for?" He yelped in pain as she concentrated, causing another spasm in his heart.

"I can continue to make this very painful for you, or I can make it quick, it's up to you. Now, your research, where is it?"

"My office. My home office." He gasped for air. "Down the hall."

"Your computer have a password?"

"Vladivostock." He wheezed.

"Thank you." She pushed out with her power one last time as he groaned and slumped back in his chair. The coroner that would investigate later would rule his death as massive heart attack. She turned and quickly made her way down the hall to his office. Typing in the password with her gloved fingers, she pulled up the information she wanted. She pulled a disk from her jacket pocket and copied the information she wanted before turning the computer off. She sifted through the hard copy files in his desk, pulling out what she wanted before leaving the room. She gave one last look to the man slumped over in his chair, closing her eyes as she fought against the pangs of guilt that washed over her before she turned and left the apartment, locking the back door on her way out.

As she entered her hotel room, she pulled the papers and disk out of her coat and handed them over to the man waiting. "Excellent and efficient work, Ava. This research will come in very handy."

"What IS he researching, exactly?"

"People like you. He's trying to figure out how you guys tick for other people with other interests. He was the competition, basically." Thompson sighed as he thumbed through the papers. "And speaking of Dr. Karevksy? How is he doing now?"

"He's dead. Heart attack, very tragic." Ava pulled her coat and gloves off. "He gave up the information quickly."

"Well, no one wants to suffer when they know they're going to die anyway, right?" Thompson set the disk and papers down as he leered at Ava. "Have I ever told you how incredibly sexy you are in black leather?"

"Have I ever told you how you remind me of a worn-out baseball glove? It's called sunscreen, you should look into it." Ava snarled.

"Oooh, bitchy." Thompson sat on the bed, patting the mattress beside him. "Come over here."

"I'm really not in the mood tonight. I just had to kill a man. It's never a good feeling."

"Well, let me make you feel better then." Thompson glared at her. "Come here."

"Don't expect me to enjoy it. I never do." Ava pulled her cap off as she walked towards him.

"I really don't care. I enjoy it, that's enough for me." Thompson pulled her down onto the bed, sighing happily. "One day, you'll learn to appreciate me."

"I seriously doubt that." Ava muttered as Thompson began to unbutton her clothes. She closed her eyes and turned her head, wishing she was anywhere but in that seedy hotel room at that moment.

* * *

May 14, 2007

"The shower free?" Ava walked into the room and watched Sylar roll up his sleeping bag.

"Yeah." Sylar stood up, frowning at her. "This isn't working out for me."

"What isn't working out for you?" Ava stepped past him as she pulled her clothes off.

"This. I'm fine with helping you guys get Kane, since he's coming after me too apparently, but this arrangement, it's not working for me. I'm moving my sleeping bag to the basement. You can sleep in here alone."

Ava turned to him, confused. "What's going on?"

"Nothing. I'm just not sticking around after Kane's dead, so there's not reason for the two of us to start back up again." Sylar shrugged as he grabbed a couple of pillows. "It's not fair to you. I'm just going to leave and you don't need to fall for me any more than you already have."

"And just where do you think you're going after Kane's dead? Do you really think the OWI's going to let you drop off of the face of the earth when this is over?"

"Why not? They'll owe me after I help get your asses out of a sling, don't you think? I've always wanted to travel the world, maybe I'll do that. Hell, maybe I'll become an OWI agent in another division somewhere if I play my cards right. It doesn't matter really, we're through. We're finished and I shouldn't keep sleeping with you when there's no future here." He turned, his eyes slowly scanning her nude body as she stared at him. "It's too confusing, for both of us."

"What happened to just sex, nothing more than that?" Ava leaned against the wall.

"I'm trying to be a gentleman here, okay? I don't love you and I never will, so sleeping together isn't right. I know you and the rest of your cronies down there think I'm just some hateful, cold-hearted asshole killer, but I do have a shred of decency. I know how you feel about me. You told me last night that you're willing to take me any way you can get me, and I was fine with it, but it's not fair to you."

Ava rolled her eyes. "So now you're trying to 'do right' by me? Oh give me a break! YOU'RE the one you're trying to protect here, not me."

"Oh really? How's that?" Sylar glared at her.

"You say you don't love me, but I know you're lying. You loved me before you got your memory back, you told me that you loved me all of the time. You can't just shut that off just because you remember who you really are."

"No?"

"No." Ava shook her head. "You love me, you just don't want to admit it. As Sylar, you probably think that loving someone, having an emotional connection to someone is a weakness. Sylar wouldn't have a problem with screwing a woman just for the hell of it, but you're not just Sylar. You're Sylar, you're Gabriel and you're Aaron, all rolled up into one guy. Aaron and Gabriel have a problem with just sex, not Sylar. Sylar has a problem with love, but not Gabriel and Aaron, am I right? It must be such a pain in the ass to have all of those conflicting identities battling it out for supremacy, the loving husband, the mild-mannered watchmaker and the serial killer. Tell you what, when you figure out which one of those guys you want to be and what that guy wants, you let me know."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to do that." Sylar smirked.

"Until then, move to the basement. I know you'll be back."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, really." Ava laughed.

"And why do you think I'll be back up here with you?"

"Because you do love me, whether you want to or not and you do want me, whether you think it's fair or not. You say one thing, but your actions are saying something totally different. You weren't just screwing me last night, you were making love and you want to again now. You haven't taken your eyes off of me since I took my clothes off."

"That's not love, that's lust. A beautiful woman stands naked in front of me, of course I'm going to notice and want to do something about it. When a beautiful woman lies next to me at night, I want to do something about it. It doesn't mean I love you." He picked up his sleeping bag. "I'm leaving my clothes up here, but don't think THAT means I love you either. It just means that I don't want my stuff getting dirty in the basement."

"Enjoy the basement." Ava smirked. "I'll try not to say 'I told you so' when you come climbing back into my bed."

"Don't stay up waiting for me." Sylar turned and walked out of the room, his heart pounding.

Ava shook her head and sighed as she walked into the bathroom and stepped into the shower. "Stubborn ass." She muttered as she leaned into the hot water spraying down on her body, breathing in the steam.

* * *

March 11, 2000

Ava woke up in her hotel bed, her heart pounding loudly. Someone was in the hotel room, someone besides her, besides Thompson, who lay beside her snoring loudly. She quickly elbowed him. "Huh, wha-?" His eyes widened as her hand clamped down over his mouth. She closed her eyes, concentrating on the other person in the room, knowing what they wanted. They wanted her dead, her and Thompson both, though she didn't yet know why. She felt Thompson's hand close over her wrist and pull her hand away. "Babe, if you wanted to wake me up for more-"

Ava snatched her hand away, making a face. "Shut up, you ass." She muttered as she slowly climbed out of bed, crouching on the floor. The room was totally dark, but as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could make out a figure in the corner. She glanced over at Thompson as he slowly sat up, and rolled her eyes as she dove across the bed, tackling Thompson as she heard a gun cock, throwing her boss to the floor in one fluid motion as their bed suddenly became riddled with bullets. Thompson yelped and scrambled on the floor, searching for a place to hide as Ava pushed out with her mind, directing all of the force of her power at the figure in the corner. She sighed with relief as she heard the man gurgle, before a sickening splatter sounded.

"What the FUCK?" Thompson turned on a light, breathing hard as he stared at the bullet holes in the bed. He turned to Ava as she pulled on her clothes, then stared at the man in the corner. His head was gone, the wall behind him splattered with brains, bone and blood. He turned back to Ava, gaping at her. "How did you know?"

"I felt him. I felt his desire to kill us both." Ava whirled around on Thompson. "Who's after us, you ass? Just WHO did Karevsky work for?" Thompson shrugged, his eyes never leaving the dead body in the corner. Ava glared at him as she finished dressing, then grabbed his clothes and threw them at him. "Get dressed. We're probably going to have to run in a minute." She turned and walked to the body, shuddering at the damage she'd caused. She quickly dug through the man's pockets, pulling out a badge. She turned back to Thompson. "He's law enforcement. What have you gotten us into?"

Thompson looked away as he got dressed. "Some of the cops here are dirty, they work for Karevsky's people."

"And who ARE his people?" Ava slowly stood, pocketing the badge.

"A consortium of scientists and military personnel. They formed their own private research group after the fall of the Iron Curtain. They study people with special abilities, people like you. They work in conflict with the OWI. Karevsky was their best scientist and researcher. By killing him tonight and stealing his research, you've just set them back by quite a few years."

"Correction, WE set them back." Ava sighed. "So what do we do now? There are others coming, you do realize that, right?"

"I didn't think they'd figure out that we were behind it or that we were still here so fast." Thompson shrugged.

"We wouldn't still be here if someone hadn't wanted to stay the night to get laid." Ava sneered. "I guess this is what you get for thinking with that tiny dick!" She grabbed her coat and the research, tucking it away in an inner pocket.

Thompson watched her, a small smile playing on her face as she grabbed her bag and began to load guns, tucking them into pockets before setting two out for him. She quickly dug into her bag, pulling out plastique and detonators. "What are you going to do?"

"Distract them with fireworks while we get to a safe house and call for extraction." She turned, frowning at his smile. "What?"

"A month shy of your twentieth birthday and you're handling this situation better than a man almost twice your age. You're a natural at this, Ava. You were born for this. I'm proud of you."

"Gee, that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside." Ava laughed bitterly as she began to place charges around the hotel room. She stood up, cocking her head to the side. "There's more of them. They're coming up the stairs. They really want us dead."

"Too bad they're about to die, huh?" Thompson smiled at her.

Ava nodded. "Yeah, sucks for them." She grabbed her bags and tossed Thompson's guns at him. "Fire escape, now." She turned, arming the charges as she pocketed a remote detonator. "Look out for-"

"-Shooters on the street, I know." Thompson smiled in amazement at her again before he turned and glanced out of the window. "It seems clear for now, but we need to move fast."

"Right behind you." Ava followed Thompson onto the fire escape and quickly began to climb down behind him as men began to kick in the door to their hotel room above them. As soon as they hit the streets, Ava reached into her pocket and pressed a button on the detonator, smirking as the windows exploded into flames above them. The moment the room exploded, illuminating the street below, Ava and Thompson were under fire from the street. They ducked behind a car, shooting at their assailants before they ducked into an alley, running for their lives. Coming out of the alley onto another street, they quickly found an unlocked car and climbed into it. Thompson watched as Ava hotwired it and pulled onto the street, driving them both quickly away from the explosion.

Smiling to himself, he pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number. "It's Thompson. We came under attack in Prague. We'll need an extraction at the Vltava River. Thanks." He turned and watched as Ava drove towards the river. "There will be a boat waiting for us at the pier."

"Good." Ava turned to him. "This is all your fault, you know. You're not coming with me on any more assignments, I don't care how little your wife has been giving you lately and the next time I go on assignment, I want ALL of the details before I accept it. This was a cluster-fuck from the word 'go' and it was completely and totally your fault."

"Fine." Thompson nodded, still watching her with stunned amazement at her composure.

"I should have let that bastard shoot you before I blew his head apart." Ava sighed. "Me and my fucking conscience."

* * *

May 14, 2007

Ava glanced up at Claude as he walked into her bedroom, dressed in a suit. "Well, don't you look nice? You didn't have to dress up, you know. No one's going to see us."

"Says the woman in black." Claude nodded at her black dress as she pinned her hair back into a bun. "It suits you."

"Thanks." Ava sighed as she turned to Claude. "He moved to the basement."

"I noticed." Claude stared at the floor. "I told him to either love you completely or leave you alone. You're pissed, aren't you?"

"Nope." Ava turned around, checking her hair in the mirror. "He'll be back. I give him a week alone in that basement before he cracks."

"And why is that?"

Ava smiled at Claude's reflection in the mirror. "Because that guy has three different identities battling it out in his brain right now, three men that he wants to be more than anything and two of those three want me. I have a feeling that Sylar's going to lose out in the end when it comes to me." She turned and winked at Claude.

"You're saying you think he has multiple personality?" Claude frowned.

"No." Ava shook her head. "I'm saying that he is Gabriel Gray. He has an angel on one shoulder named Aaron and a devil on the other named Sylar. Gabriel and Aaron want me, they want to love me, Sylar wants to kill me. For six months, Gabriel lived as Sylar, a cold blooded killer who wanted nothing more than power. For six more months, he lived as Aaron Abbott, a man in love who wanted nothing more than to live happily with the woman who had his heart. Now, Gabriel has to choose who he wants to be. I think in the end, Aaron will win."

"And then what?" Claude raised an eyebrow. "You two defeat Kane and go off happily into the sunset together?"

"Maybe?" Ava shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't thought that far ahead. He talked about joining the OWI when this was all over with. I think, if he behaved himself and proved that he could be trusted, he'd make a good agent, don't you?"

"Possibly." Claude grinned. "So, a week eh? Think he needs a little help to shorten that time?"

"What do you have in mind?" Ava raised an eyebrow.

* * *

Sylar looked up from the couch and the baseball game he was watching with Peter and Niki as Ava and Claude came down the stairs. He stared at Ava hungrily, appreciating the way her black dress clung to her figure. She ignored him as Noah walked over to them with Hiro. "Ready to go?"

Ava nodded, her expression grim. "I guess so."

"Where are they going?" Sylar sat up, frowning.

Noah turned to him. "Ava's mother's funeral is starting in a few minutes. She should go, don't you think?"

Sylar turned, his eyes meeting Ava's. He sighed as she studied him, then looked away. "It's always good to say good-bye." He nodded. "Need anyone else there?"

Claude snorted. "I'm going with her and so is Noah. What do you think you could do there?"

"Nothing, you're right." Sylar turned away, concentrating on the television as Noah took Ava's arm.

"Let's go." He turned to Hiro and nodded as the young man placed a hand on Noah's shoulder, then Claude's. They quickly disappeared from the living room as Sylar pouted.

"She'll be fine with the two of them." He muttered. "She doesn't need me."

Peter smirked. "Yeah, you're right. Why would she want the man she loves with her while she buries her mother?"

Sylar glanced at him for a moment, then looked away. "Why would I want to be with her?"

Peter rolled his eyes. "Because I can read your mind and I know you WANT to be with her. Just tell her you love her and stop being such a stubborn jackass, GOD!"

* * *

As they materialized in the cemetery outside of Achille, Claude took Hiro's hand. "Hang onto Noah as well, he whispered. No one can see us, especially Ava." Hiro nodded silently as he took Noah's hand. They made their way towards the funeral, hidden from sight as they stood away from the mourners. Claude turned to Ava, squeezing her hand as he heard her stifle a sob. "You okay?" He whispered.

Ava nodded as she stared at the small group surrounding her mother's grave. "Where are all of her friends? She had so many friends, where are they?" She whispered as she stared at her father. In the ten years since she'd seen her father, he'd appeared to age fifty. His once vibrant red hair was totally white, his face lined beyond his years. He turned his head in her direction and Ava covered a gasp as he appeared to stare at her, a muscle in his jaw twitching as he turned back towards his wife's grave. "Claude, I think he just saw me." She whispered.

"Impossible. We're invisible." Claude whispered.

The funeral was short. The reverend said a few short words about Brenda Grant and her life before closing his book and saying a quick prayer. The few people who had come to her funeral walked over to George, shaking his hand and murmuring a few words of condolence before walking away, leaving him alone at his wife's grave. For a few minutes, he watched the people quickly walk away before turning his head back in Ava's direction. "I know you're there, Geneva." His voice was deep and gravelly. "I knew you didn't die in that car accident, even though I truly wish you had."

Ava closed her eyes as she let go of Claude's hand and stepped forward, showing herself to her father. "How did you know?"

George glared at his daughter. "I've always been able to tell when people who were different were around. I guess that makes me different too." He studied her. "You're all grown up now, I see." Ava nodded. "You shouldn't have come. Your mother died because of you, because of the curse that I passed on to you. She hung herself, did you know that? She waited until I left for work, grabbed an extension cord, hung it from the rafters and put her neck through it. The coroner said she strangled for a few minutes before she finally died. She suffered after you left and she suffered in death and it's all your fault. Her friends abandoned her after that prom night. No one wanted to associate with her. She went crazy. Everyone blamed her, but I knew the truth. I knew you were different, and I knew you got it from me. I knew it from the moment you were born. I should have killed you in your crib, rather than let you kill all of those people and now you've killed your mother, same as if you'd put that noose around her neck and kicked that chair out from her." George looked away, tears in his eyes as Ava began to sob. "I regret the day you were born. I regret passing my curse onto you. You should go."

"Daddy-" Ava began to speak.

"-I'm not your daddy anymore." George's green eyes snapped up, meeting Ava's tearful hazel ones. "As far as I'm concerned, my daughter died ten years ago after killing her friends at her prom. You're dead to me, do you understand me? You're nothing but evil. You're a walking curse. You killed your friends and you killed your mother. I hate you." He turned and walked away as Ava's legs gave way. She collapsed to the ground, sobbing as Claude let go of Hiro's hand and ran to her.

"He's right." Ava sobbed. "I killed her! I killed my mother. She wouldn't have done this if I-"

"-You hush, you hush right now!" Claude pulled her into his arms as she clung to him, sobbing loudly. "Your father is just looking for someone to blame, the hateful bastard. He had no right to say those things to you. He had no right." Claude crooned as he rocked back and forth with Ava sobbing in his arms. He turned to Hiro and Noah. "Take us back. Take us to the house."

Sylar looked up as Hiro, Noah and Claude appeared in the living room, a sobbing Ava in Claude's arms. He stood up, his eyes widening. "What happened?"

Peter stood up beside Sylar. "Is she okay?"

Noah shook his head as Claude carried Ava to the couch. "Her father sensed we were there. Apparently he's the one she inherited power from. He said some things to her, very hurtful things."

"He called her evil and curse." Claude cradled Ava in his arms as they sat on the couch. "Bloody hateful bastard!"

"He's right." Ava nodded. "I was a curse to my parents, I was a curse to Brighton, I was a curse to you-"

"-No you weren't!" Claude shook his head and held Ava out at arm's length, forcing her to look him in the eye. "You never have been and never will be evil or a curse. That's like calling everyone in this room a curse. You didn't kill your mother, do you understand me? She was obviously an unstable woman who took the coward's way out and your father? He's just looking for someone besides himself to blame. He should have taken better care of your mother. He's the one who has been with her for the last ten years, yes?" Ava nodded sadly as she looked around the room. Angela, Peter, Niki, Claire, Mohinder, Matt, Candice, Kaito, Ando, Sylar, Noah and Hiro all stared down at her sadly. "He's the one who has been with her for the last ten years, it was up to him to protect her and get her the help she needed, not you. He just doesn't want to admit that HE is the one who failed her. You didn't cause this, no matter what that bastard said."

"He's my father, Claude-"

Claude shook his head. "-It's like you said this morning, Ava doesn't have parents and Geneva's dead. You buried her today at that cemetery with her mother. We're your family now, the only family that truly matters. You believe me, right? We're the ones who have taken care of you and protected you and supported you, just as you've supported and protected us. WE'RE your true family."

"You are." Ava nodded, tears streaming down her face. She slowly stood up, wiping away tears as she walked to the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Noah asked.

"My room. I need to lie down." Ava turned to him. "Don't worry. I'm not going to do anything, I just need to be alone." She nodded as she turned back to the stairs. "I need to be alone for a while. I'll talk to you guys later. Thanks." She slowly walked up the stairs, her shoulders slumped.

Noah turned back to the group in the living room. "I could have killed that bastard and tossed him in his wife's grave for what he said to her."

"Hear, hear." Claude nodded.


	15. Chapter 15: Unwelcome Memories

Chapter Fifteen: Unwelcome Memories

May 14, 2007

Sylar sat in the living room with the rest of the team, listening as Noah, Claude and Hiro discussed Ava's confrontation with her father. Noah shook his head sadly as he finished telling what he saw. "What kind of father would say such a thing to his only daughter?"

"That's just it, he's not her bloody father anymore!" Claude sat back, his brows knitted together as he glanced up at the ceiling. "Rotten bastard! She inherited this from him and he tells her that SHE is responsible for her mother's death? I didn't see him, the man who has been living with the woman for the last ten fucking years trying to help her. Anyone in their right mind would have moved after what happened, would have tried to get her away from the daily reminders of what happened but him? He just stays there, letting his wife get ostracized for something that was no one's damned fault, until she went off her rocker and hung herself! Bloody fucking sod, he is!"

"It was quite terrible." Hiro sighed sadly. "To have your own father say such things."

Niki glanced up at the ceiling. "Someone should check on her."

"She's okay for now." Sylar shrugged and looked away as everyone turned to him. "She's crying and listening to music on her Ipod, some Mat Kearney, Snow Patrol, The Fray, Brandi Carlile. She usually listens to that when she's down." He glanced quickly at everyone as they stared at him. "What?"

"Nothin'" Claude smirked. "For someone who claims not to love her or care about her, you know an awful lot about her music tastes."

"Well, I did live with her for six months, thanks to you assholes. I got to know a lot about her tastes, okay?" As Claude, Peter and Matt stifled giggles and smirks, Sylar's eyes narrowed. "She likes Italian food and Mexican best, along with Tex-Mex. She watches weepy shit on television all of the time, usually crying over that show about the horny surgical residents. She also has a serious thing for weepy, sniffly chick flicks, though she refuses to admit it, because if I have to sit through _The Lake House_ one more time, I'm going to TK her head off. She WILL admit to watching action flicks, the more shit that gets blown up, the better. She love 70's horror movies and hates the remakes, as well as the current horror movies that have been cranked out lately, she calls them snuff porn. She also thinks the Coen Brothers are gods, which I have to agree with. She likes pretty much all music except for death metal and rap, but is very into adult contemporary, for some ungodly reason. She likes to warm up and cool down to it when she runs, and listens to Van Halen, The Foo Fighters, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nirvana when she's in what she calls 'the red zone' when she's running. When she's happy, she listens to 80's and 90's pop and when she's depressed, she listens to that stuff I just mentioned, okay? DAMN! Just because I know all of this stuff doesn't mean I love her, it just means that when I thought I was her husband, I paid attention to her likes and dislikes, just like ANY husband would!"

"Someone's on the defensive." Claire muttered.

"You're telling me." Claude laughed heartily. "Me thinks he doth protest too much."

"I'm going up there." Niki sighed as she stood up from the couch. She quickly made her way up the stairs and knocked on Ava's bedroom door before letting herself in. Ava lay on the bed, her back to Niki, still dressed in black. "Ava?" She noticed the white wires leading to Ava's ears as the woman sniffled on her bed. "Ava." She sat on the bed, smiling softly as Ava slowly rolled over, her eyes swollen and red. She took the ear phones out of her ears and looked away as Niki took her hand. "I'm sorry about your mother."

"I am too." Ava lay back on the bed, tears streaming down her face as she stared at the ceiling. "I don't blame myself, really, no matter what my father said. Claude was right, it wasn't my fault, it's Dad's. I just keep remembering what she was like when I was growing up. She was such a great lady, Nik. She was warm and funny, she had this hilariously twisted sense of humor, but she was also very dry. Most of the time you didn't realize she'd made a joke until a few minutes later, she was so subtle. We were so close. Dad and I weren't, really. He was always very cold with me, very distant, but Mom-" Ava closed her eyes as her chin began to tremble. "-I just can't reconcile the memories of the woman I grew up with, with the thought of her dangling from the rafters in our house. My 'death' must have been really hard on her, plus the circumstances before it, when I manifested."

"Your father should have done something to help her before she died."

"I know, but that wasn't his nature." Ava sighed. "He was someone who always hid everything from the outside world. He was very much aware of social perceptions, Mom was too, but he was more so. He liked his image as a family man, the president of the bank, the deacon of his church. Mom suffered and he didn't do anything about it because he didn't want people knowing that she was losing her mind, I know it. He let her sit in that house and suffer and die in order to 'keep up appearances'. I hope he rots now. I hope that people whisper about her death and my supposed one behind his back for the rest of his life and ruin his reputation in that dinky-ass town."

Niki smiled softly. "Wanting revenge on your father? I know a little something about that."

"I don't want him to die." Ava shook her head, her hazel eyes darkening to a violent, glittering green as they narrowed. "I want him to suffer every day. I want him to keep that house. I want him to come home to that empty house every night and remember what it was like to walk in and find his wife hanging there. I want him to remember what the house was like before all of that. I want him to remember me and Mom in the kitchen, laughing over cookies while I talked about boys and school. I want him to remember what it was like to have a family, and I want him to realize one day that he doesn't have that anymore because of himself. I inherited this from him, not Mom. The months before I manifested at my prom, I started having headaches, really terrible headaches and dreams. He knew about them. He and Mom dragged me to doctors in Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas for tests, for crying out loud! I spent a week at the Houston Medical Center, getting poked and prodded and scanned to make sure I didn't have a brain tumor or an aneurysm and the whole time, he knew what was really happening, he HAD to have known! But did he say anything? Did he try to warn me that something was about to happen to me? No, he kept his mouth shut, continued on with his life without a care in the world and waited for me to unleash at the prom, all to protect his 'public image'. I want him to fucking rot."

Niki nodded. "Yeah, I'd say you're definitely in touch with your anger as far as he's concerned."

"I am, I really am." Ava sniffled. "And I miss my mom like crazy."

"Is there anything I can say or do?"

Ava nodded. "There's a bottle of tequila in the bottom left cupboard in the kitchen. Bring it to me?"

Niki frowned. "Ava, do you really think drinking is appropriate at a time like this?"

"My mom strangled herself with an extension cord, my father called me a curse, my 'husband' moved to the basement because he doesn't want to 'hurt' me by fucking me, and a semi-immortal lunatic is currently stalking all of us to keep us from fulfilling a four-hundred year old prophecy that involves killing him. Yeah, I think getting shitfaced is definitely appropriate at a time like this. Care to join me?"

Niki laughed softly. "I'm an alcoholic. I've been sober for a year and a half."

"Good for you." Ava grinned at her. "I'm going to drink to the memory of Brenda Grant, a woman who deserved better than the shitty husband she got and to Geneva Grant, a scared kid who is finally dead and buried with her mother."

Niki stood up. "Want a shot glass?"

Ava shrugged. "Nah, just the bottle will do."

"Okay then." Niki sighed as she left the room. She went downstairs and found the tequila. Sylar frowned as she passed through the living room, toting the bottle.

"You're actually BRINGING that to her?" Sylar glared at her.

Niki whirled around on him. "Yes, you nosy ass, I AM!"

"Do you really, honestly think she needs that?"

Niki stared at the bottle. "You heard her, I know. You heard the reasons why she wants to get plastered, can you blame her?"

"She's very emotional right now. Her mother just died. She shouldn't be drinking. That's not a healthy way to handle this."

Niki smirked. "Uh-huh. Tell me Sylar, what did YOU do after YOUR mother died?"

Sylar sighed. "Take her the booze."

Niki snorted as she turned and walked up the stairs. Claire stared at Sylar for a moment before clearing her throat. "Um, what DID you do after your mother died?"

Sylar shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "I painted a mural of the bomb exploding with her blood." He whispered as he sank in his seat. He looked around the room as everyone stared at him again. "What NOW?"

"You truly are one sick puppy." Matt whispered.

* * *

March 21, 2000 

Linderman smiled up at Ava from his desk as she strolled into his office with Thompson by her side. "Agent Reese!" He stood and shook her hand. "Good to have you and Agent Thompson back with us! I heard things got a bit hairy in Prague?"

"You could say that." Ava nodded glumly.

"Glad the two of you came out of it relatively unscathed." Linderman glanced over at Thompson, his eyes narrowing for a moment before he turned back to Ava, smiling softly. "I have a surprise for you, my Dear, a quick assignment for you."

"What kind of assignment?" Ava frowned.

Linderman cocked his head towards a door to the side. "In that conference room are the heads of the project in Prague, the men who Dr. Karevsky worked for, the men who ordered your assassination. There's a bit of a summit going on in there at the moment between them, and a couple of my business partners."

"I see." Ava's eyes narrowed as she turned to the door.

"My partners, a man named Charles Deveaux and a man named Kaito Nakamura are in there now, trying to peacefully get these men to work WITH us." Linderman sighed. "I personally don't trust those Russkies as far as I can throw them, myself, but Charles and Kaito wanted to offer an olive branch first before we decided on, other measures."

"Other measures?" Ava's eyes snapped back to Linderman's sparkling blue ones.

"Charles and Kaito should be stepping through those doors in a moment to tell us if they're with us, or if they're going to continue to work AGAINST us. Which do you prefer, my Dear?"

Ava smiled softly. "I'm not sure. It would be nice to know that I'm not going to be in someone's crosshairs the next time I step out of my home in Lubbock."

"I think that would be nice as well." Linderman winked playfully at her. He reached out and took her hand, patting it almost fatherly. "You have become one of our best little agents. I don't want anything happening to you." He turned as the door opened, beaming as the two men entered. "Charles! Kaito! I would like to introduce you both to the young woman you've both heard so much about. Avery Reese, I would like you to meet Charles Deveaux and Kaito Nakamura."

Charles smiled as he kissed her cheek. "You are about the same age as my daughter Simone. It's good to meet you."

Kaito bowed to her. "I also have a daughter about your age, Kimiko. It's a pleasure. We've heard quite a bit about your work, especially the efficient way you took care of things in Prague."

"Even after they went pear shaped?" Ava cocked her head to the side as Charles winked at her.

"Darling, sometimes one of the best ways to judge the true merit of an agent is by seeing how they react to adverse conditions, and how they handle a mission when it goes 'pear shaped'." He smiled. "And you handled yourself better than most seasoned agents."

"God knows she handled it better than I did." Thompson nodded.

"I was wondering something." Kaito frowned at Thompson and Ava. "How did you respond so quickly to Ava's attack, Agent Thompson? Were you in the same room that she was in?"

Before Ava could say anything Thompson shook his head. "I was in the room next door. They had connecting doors. I had just come from her room where I'd waited for her to return from her assignment and I used the connecting doors. I suppose I left her side open. When I heard the gunshots from the attack in her room, I ran in and found her and her dead assailant. That's when she sensed the others coming up the stairs, ready to attack us."

"I see." Kaito studied Ava as she stared straight ahead.

"What did our illustrious Eastern European counterparts have to say about joining with us to share research?" Linderman asked.

Kaito turned to Linderman, his mouth tightening. "They have refused to join with us."

"Well then, that's unfortunate." Linderman shook his head.

Charles sighed. "They refused, unless we give them the assassin that took out Karevsky." He glanced at Ava. "We've told him that giving up that agent is not an option."

"Thank you, Mr. Deveaux." Ava nodded to him.

"They've also threatened to escalate hostilities unless we give them the assassin." Kaito sighed. "I had hoped to end this peacefully."

"Myself as well." Linderman turned to Ava. "Ready to do your worst, my Dear?"

Ava's eyes widened as Charles and Kaito looked away uncomfortably. "Sir?"

"I don't agree with this." Kaito whispered. "They came here under the assurance that things would be peaceful."

"They were, until they started threatening our organization and our agents." Linderman turned back to Ava. "Take them out, Agent Reese."

Ava stared at Linderman for a moment, then nodded. "How many are in there?"

"Ten." Deveaux whispered. "I don't like this, Linderman."

"It's the only way, Charles. If we let them leave here alive, they'll start stalking our people and killing them." Linderman's eyes never left Ava's. "Right, Avery?"

Ava frowned. "Yes Sir." She turned and strolled into the conference room. Deveaux and Kaito closed their eyes, shuddering as the sounds of screams filled the office, muffled through the door. Moments later, everything became quiet before a pale, shaken and blood-covered Ava slowly re-entered the room. Staring at the floor, she clasped her hands behind her back. "It's done." She glanced up at Linderman for a moment, then returned her gaze to the floor. "I hope you've got a hell of a cleaning crew, Sir."

"Oh, I do." Linderman laughed heartily. "Isn't she remarkable?"

* * *

May 14, 2007 

Two hours after Niki had returned from Ava's room, Sylar tried to concentrate on the baseball game he was watching with the rest of the group, his mind and super hearing wandering upstairs to monitor her. Finally, after glancing up at the ceiling for the umpteenth time, Claude sighed. "So what's she doing now, Mate?"

Sylar gave Claude a 'busted' look as he shrugged. "She's moved from adult contemporary to 70's whiny. Todd Rundgren, right now."

"I loved him when I was younger." Noah smiled softly to himself.

"Who?" Claire turned to her father, staring.

"Just a singer, Claire." Noah's smile faded.

"Let me know if she starts whipping out the Gordon Lightfoot." Claude laughed softly. "I'll go up there and take away her tequila bottle and Ipod."

"Will do." Sylar nodded. A moment later, he sighed and stood up. "I'm going up there."

"Why?" Claude glared at him. "What do you think YOU can do, seeing as how you don't love her and all."

"I can talk." Sylar shook his head. "She's listening to The Hollies. If she continues at this rate, our medicine cabinet's not going to be safe, if you know what I mean."

"Go bugger yourself, you stupid arse!" Claude yelled as Sylar turned and climbed the stairs. As the music coming from the digital player boomed in his sensitive ears, Sylar tried to push away the unwelcome memories that threatened to overcome him.

_Peace came upon me and then peace made me weak_

_So sleep, silent angel, go to sleep_

He tried not to remember his life as Gabriel Gray, tried to force those memories back as much as possible, telling himself that he was Sylar now. Listening to that song, he remembered something long forgotten, a memory of himself at seven years old, lying in bed as he tried to sleep, listening to the angry voices coming from the living room of their small, shabby Queens apartment.

_Sometimes, all I need is the air that I breathe and to love you_

He gritted his teeth, trying to force away the memory of himself lying in bed, wishing his parents would stop fighting. They always fought, usually about him.

_Sometimes, all I need is the air that I breathe yes to love you_

_All I need is the air that I breathe_

Sylar stopped at the door to Ava's bedroom, suddenly angry at her for listening to that song and forcing him to call up those memories that he'd tried so hard to forget. Glaring, he turned the knob on the door and swept in the room, preparing to yell at her. The angry words died on his lips as he saw her stretched out on the bed. The black dress that he'd appreciated on her earlier that day was crumpled on the floor, her shoes tossed across the room. She lay on the bed, her hair down around her shoulders, dressed only in her black underwear. Sylar audibly gulped as his eyes traveled over her body. Her eyes were closed, an occasional tear sliding from under the lids as she lifted the half-empty bottle of tequila to her lips and drank. Shaking his head, he twitched his fingers. Ava jumped, startled as the Ipod flew into his hands with the ear phones. She glared at him as he turned off the music. "What the fuck do you want?" She slurred.

"First, I wanted to turn off the whiny-ass shit that passes for music coming out of this thing. Second, I wanted to make sure that you were okay." Sylar began to flip through the play list. "Good thing I came up here when I did. Jefferson Starship's _Miracles_? Seriously? Why don't you just go and slash your wrists now and get it over with?"

"Give it back." Ava snarled.

"Fuck you." Sylar shook his head, holding up the Ipod teasingly. "You were born in 1980, why are you listening to this shit?"

"My mom listened to it, okay? I figured it would be appropriate to listen to her music while I said goodbye to her."

"My mom listened to it too." Sylar's mouth twitched downward as he flipped through the play list more. "I hated this crap." He yelped as he felt an invisible force punch him in the stomach. As he doubled over, Ava reached out and snatched the Ipod out of his hands, laying back on the bed as she placed the phones back into her ears. "Stop doing THAT!" He twitched his fingers again, pulling the player out of her hands and placing it on the dresser. He sat on the bed as Ava lay back, sulking. "You're not coping well with this, are you?"

"Look who's talking about coping. I read your file. I know what you did after your mother died. When her body was found with a mural painted on the floor in her blood, it didn't take us much of a leap to figure out who'd done it." Ava shrugged. "So your mom listened to that stuff too, huh? I hated it when we used to listen to it all of the time, but after I manifested and left home, I started listening to it. It was a connection with her, you know?"

Sylar lay back on the pillows beside her. "Yeah, I know." He frowned. "In my case, some connections were made to be broken."

"How so?" Ava rolled over onto her side, studying Sylar as he stared at the ceiling.

Sylar thought back to the memory that had assaulted him as he climbed the stairs. He shook his head. "There are some things that should just be left alone."

"Hmmm." Ava sighed as she rolled onto her back and took a swig from the bottle. Sylar watched as she made a face and glanced over at him. "Tequila?"

Sylar stared at the bottle for a moment, then shrugged. "Sure, why not?" He took the bottle from her and upended it, drinking down a few gulps before handing it back to her while grimacing. "That shit's seriously nasty."

"I've always liked tequila." Ava nodded.

"It tastes like dirty socks."

"But it gets the job done." Ava nodded to her Ipod. "Bring that back over here. I promise no more 70's, but I need to listen to some music while I get good and drunk."

"No." Sylar muttered.

"Okay, WHAT do you have against 70's music? Seriously? I know a lot of it's cheesy as hell, but it brings back good memories for me, memories that I want to have tonight."

Sylar closed his eyes. "My mom listened to it."

"Yeah, you already told me. And?"

"She and my father used to fight a lot, okay?" Sylar turned to her, his brow furrowing. "They fought all of the time, especially over me, and that music was usually the soundtrack to their fights."

"Oh. " Ava nodded. "Yeah, I can see why you wouldn't want to remember that shit. It's not quite like giggling over a plate of cookies while that stuff plays in the background."

"No, it's not like that."

"They fought about you?"

"Yeah." Sylar nodded slightly. "On snow days and on school breaks, Dad liked to take me to his shop. I liked it there. I'd help him with watches and clocks, repairing them, rebuilding them. I enjoyed doing it and I loved spending time with him. Mom hated it. She thought Dad was boring and ordinary and looked down on his job, even though it put food on the table, not that she would ever stir herself to get off of her ass and get a job. She wanted more for me. She kept telling me how 'special' I was and how I didn't have to be ordinary like my father. It was so fucked up. I wanted to be special for her, but I also really and truly loved spending time with my father, restoring timepieces. They'd fight at night about Dad taking me with him. Mom always threatened to leave and take me with her and Dad would dare her to go. Sometimes it would end with one of them, usually Mom hitting the other one. Usually it ended with Dad storming out and going to a bar."

"What happened with them? What happened to your dad?"

Sylar glanced over at Ava, noticing how she was turned towards him, propped up on one elbow as her eyes glittered in the faint light of the bedside lamp. "I went to a local technical college. I graduated with a degree in watch repair. Mom was seriously pissed. The night I graduated, they got into one final screaming match and Dad walked out for the last time. He never came home. I got the keys to his shop in the mail a few days later with a note from him, asking me to keep it running. I did."

"So you decided to stay 'ordinary', or at least ordinary in your mother's eyes."

"Yeah." Sylar raised an eyebrow. "She harped on me all of the time about being special and doing something else with my life. I thought about it. I wanted to do it, if anything just to get her off of my back, but I still loved what I did. I was-"

"-Pulled in two directions?" Ava asked. Sylar nodded. "That explains a lot."

"What do you mean?" Sylar turned to her.

"That's why you became Sylar, isn't it? Gabriel was happy making watches and Sylar wanted to be special, so you killed others to become more special, not realizing that you had the power of intuitive aptitude all along. It's ironic. Your mom wanted you to be special, she pushed you towards it, and when you became special-"

"-I killed her." Sylar frowned.

"I don't think you killed your mother anymore than I did mine." Ava nodded. "Did you?"

"I was responsible. I scared her with my powers, scared the unholy shit out of her. She got scared and tried to run. I tried to stop her, to make her see that I was still her son and that I finally was the extraordinary person that she wanted me to be. She pulled out a pair of scissors to attack me. I tried to take them from her. We struggled and she ended up getting stabbed with them. I killed her."

"It was an accident, Sylar." Ava reached out and took his hand. "It wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was." Sylar let go of Ava's hand and rolled back over onto his back. "Gabriel Gray died that night."

"No he didn't." Ava shook her head. "He's still here, in this room. He was alive for the last six months. Aaron Abbott and Gabriel Gray were the same person, they were both the man I fell in love with."

"There is no Aaron and there is no Gabriel anymore. Why can't you see that?"

Ava sighed. "Because I know that Sylar is just an act. He's what you WANT to be. He's what you've always perceived as ideal. He's this special guy that you don't think you are as Gabriel. What I don't understand is why you can't see how special you are as Gabriel? You were special as my husband. You were warm and funny and loving and genuine. That man didn't go away just because you remembered being Sylar. I think the man I lived with, slept with and loved for six months is truly the REAL you, not Sylar."

"You hate Sylar, don't you?"

"No. He's a part of you. I don't hate him at all. He scares me. I'm afraid that he'll take you over completely and try to destroy the Gabriel side of you, the side I lived with, but I don't hate him." Ava slowly sat up and climbed off of the bed. Sylar watched as she went to the dresser and grabbed her Ipod. His eyes followed her as she returned to the bed and began to listen to music again. They lay together side-by-side, listening to music as they passed the tequila bottle back and forth, not saying another word to each other.

* * *

March 21, 2000 

Ava stood in the shower of her hotel room, closing her eyes as she rinsed the blood from the men she'd killed off of her body and out of her hair, trying to erase the memory of the way their heads and hearts exploded. She shuddered, thinking about how easily they'd died at her hands.

She stepped out of the shower and wrapped her hair in a towel before pulling on a thick terrycloth robe. As she walked into her hotel room, she gasped to see Mr. Linderman sitting in a chair beside her bed. "Sir?"

Linderman leaned forward on his elbows, raising his eyebrows. "I have a question for you, Agent Reese and I want you to answer truthfully. You will not be punished if what I suspect is true."

"Okay." Her voice quavered nervously.

"You and Thompson, how long has it been going on?"

"What?" Her heart began to pound as she remembered Thompson's threats. _He'll kill Noah if I tell, Noah, Sandra, Claire and Lyle if given the chance, but definitely Noah. I can't face his family if that happens. I can't face them and tell them he's dead because of me._ She blinked rapidly as she stared at Linderman. "What are you talking about, Sir?"

"Mr. Nakamura believes that something untoward is going on between the two of you. Is it true?"

Ava shook her head, nauseated at the idea of having to cover for her boss. "No Sir. Nothing is going on."

"Are you sure?" Linderman stood up and slowly walked to her, his eyes filled with concern. "Honey, if he's threatened you, in any way-"

"-Nothing's going on."

"Okay." Linderman took her hands in his, patting them gently. "Even so, I think that I'm going to have a chat with Mr. Thompson and let him know what Mr. Nakamura suspects. I think there are going to be a few people watching him and you very closely for a while. I don't want him taking advantage of you, Avery. Your papers may state that you're twenty-one, but you're really only nineteen years old. I know this. If he's taking liberties with his job that he shouldn't, he CAN be dealt with, you do realize this?"

"I know." Ava nodded, her mouth going dry. _But you couldn't deal with him before he kills Noah. He'd probably have The Haitian do it, just as easily as he had Noah try to kill Claude._

"Okay then." Linderman gazed at her for a moment before slowly turning and leaving the room. The moment he left, she sat in a chair and let the tears flow, her heart sinking as she realized she would never be able to escape Thompson, not unless she wanted the people she cared about the most being caught in the crossfire.

* * *

May 14, 2007 

"So why do you continue to want to kill?" Ava murmured drunkenly. "I mean, look at all of the powers you've got. Why do you want to keep getting more?"

"Evolution." Sylar slurred as he tried to take another swig from the bottle. He stared at it, cursing as he tossed the now-empty bottle aside. "Dead soldier." He snickered.

"Evolution?" Ava rolled over onto her side again, studying Sylar.

"Yeah." Sylar rolled over, his face inches from hers. "Lions hunt gazelles. Sharks attack seals. It's embedded in their DNA."

"So you think you're a predator and the rest of us are prey?"

"Exactly. It's my evolutionary imperative."

Ava cocked an eyebrow as she smiled seductively at him. "You know what else is an evolutionary imperative?"

"Sex." Sylar whispered. "But mainly for breeding."

"Yeah right. Do I look like someone's mom to you?"

Sylar's eyes studied her body again, clad in her black underwear. "No, you sure don't."

"I understand the predator thing. I was one myself. I was the go-to girl for assassinations in the OWI. My prey was whoever they wanted to sic me on and I was damn good at it."

Sylar licked his lips as he nodded. "Oh, I'll just bet you were with that wicked little power."

"Put your slice-and-dice finger down, Big Boy. I might be drunker than a skunk, but I can still kick your ass."

"I wasn't thinking about killing you, for once." Sylar's eyes glittered.

"No?"

"No." He smiled softly at her. "Ever think about being predators together?"

"No." Ava laughed. "I killed for profit and because it was my job. You did it for power and because you felt it was an evolutionary imperative. You do know how pompous that sounds, right?"

"I do." Sylar laughed softly.

"So," Ava slowly sat up. "If you weren't thinking about killing me, what were you thinking about doing to me?"

"Exercising my other evolutionary imperative, or at least practicing for it." Sylar flicked his fingers, smiling as Ava's bra unclasped. He sat up and began to kiss her back as she leaned against him, shuddering with pleasure.

"What happened to not wanting to hurt me? Not wanting to confuse me?"

Sylar's lips traveled to her neck as he sat up, cupping her breasts in his hands. "I'm really to drunk to give a shit about that right now. Besides, what do you care, one way or the other? You said last night you'd take me any way you could get, didn't you?"

"I did." Ava moaned softly as she turned around, kissing Sylar hungrily. "We just need to remember to keep it down this time."

"You're the one who needs to keep it down." Sylar laughed as he began to pull his clothes off. "You keep it down while I keep it up." He moaned as Ava fell into his arms, their bodies coming together as they began to make love.


	16. Chapter 16: Hazing

Chapter Sixteen: Hazing

May 14, 2007

_What the fuck was I thinking?_ Sylar thought to himself as he lay naked in bed with Ava, staring at the ceiling. Ava slept soundly beside him, an arm thrown across his chest, a leg draped over his. Sylar turned his head, to study Ava as she slept. He watched as she smiled softly and pursed her lips for a moment in her sleep, almost as if she was dreaming about kissing him.

_Kill her! Kill her now while she's sleeping! She's too drunk to fight back._ Sylar closed his eyes, willing away that voice, that wanted and needed him to slice her head open and take her power for himself. Fighting the urge, he realized that, no matter how badly the Sylar part of him wanted her dead, another part of him wanted her to live. It was the same part of him that had made love with her that night. Gliding his fingers along her arm, he realized that he couldn't stay in her bed with her, he couldn't do what he wanted with her, what he really and truly wanted, without that more dangerous side of him urging him to kill her. He sighed, frustrated as he climbed out of bed, careful to keep from waking her up.

He glanced at the clock beside her bed as he quietly pulled his clothes on, shocked to realize that it was almost midnight. He'd been with Ava for almost six hours, yet it only felt like he'd been in the room with her for a few minutes. He laughed as he thought about a movie he'd seen once, years ago. It had been a silly movie, something about Samuel L. Jackson and sharks. He remembered a line from the movie, where a character talked about how touching a hot pan for a second could feel like forever, but putting your hands on a hot woman for hours could only feel like a second. He'd always thought that line was bullshit, now he understood what that character had been talking about. He glanced wistfully over his shoulder at Ava as she continued to sleep. She was as naked as he'd been just a moment ago, only covered by a sheet that barely reached her waist. His eyes slid over her bare back as she stretched in her sleep, her hair fell across her back and face like a red curtain. He fought the urge to pull his clothes off and climb back into her bed with as much difficulty as he'd fought the urge to kill her just a few moments earlier. Sighing, he turned and headed for the door, cursing himself silently as he heard her stir and mumble.

"You leaving?"

Sylar looked over at her as she propped up on her elbows, her eyes puffy and bloodshot from sleeping, crying and drinking. He looked away and nodded. "I think I'd better."

"I felt your desire to kill me. I also felt you fighting it." Ava sighed. "You walk a thin line, don't you?"

"Some days more than others." Sylar glanced over at her again. "Tonight, what we did. I shouldn't have-"

"-I know." Ava nodded sleepily. "But if it makes you feel any better, it helped." Sylar watched as she stretched slowly before lying back down, her head resting on her arms. "You're going down to the basement?"

"Yeah." Sylar nodded.

Ava closed her eyes and yawned. "Take some of that allergy medicine Dr. Lonigan prescribed for you last Christmas before you go down there." She opened her eyes and studied the confused expression on Sylar's face. "Remember? We went down to the basement to bring up the Christmas stuff and with all the mold and dust that was down there, you were sniffling and hacking and miserable for a week until I dragged you to his office? He told you to make sure you took that before you tried to clean out anything in the basement again."

"I remember, I just-" Sylar shrugged. "-I'll take some before I go down there."

"Sleep tight." Ava murmured as she closed her eyes again and drifted off to sleep.

"You too." Sylar walked out of her room, his head spinning. It was moments like the one he'd just shared with Ava, a simple reminder to take medicine he'd forgotten about, that quick moment of caring about him, that made him suddenly wish he could forget about being Sylar and go back to simply being Aaron Abbott. He even suddenly wished he could be Gabriel Gray again, the shy watchmaker and timepiece repairman. He found himself wishing he could grab Hiro and make him teleport them both to April 24, 2006 and stop Chandra Suresh from entering his shop before finding a way to send his past self to Texas to meet Ava. For the first time since he'd created the identity of Sylar, the ideal of what he'd always wanted, he wished he'd never started down that slippery slope that had been paved with murder.

As he slowly made his way down the stairs, he frowned as he heard Peter and Niki whispering to each other in their room as they quietly made love and wished he could have been able to stay in Ava's room with her. He made his way to the kitchen and fixed a quick sandwich for himself, his stomach reminding him that he hadn't eaten since lunch. He could smell a wonderful aroma in the kitchen, and wondered what the others had cooked for dinner. Shaking his head, he grabbed the medication that Ava reminded him about that sat beside the sink and shook a couple of tablets out into his hand before taking his sandwich and a soda to the basement.

Sylar glared as he arrived in the basement and realized he wouldn't be sleeping there alone. Claude was stretched out on a cot near the door that led to stairs to the backyard. As he glared at the older man, Claude woke up and smirked. "I figured you for a no-show tonight, Mate! Figured you'd stay upstairs with Ava tonight and shag."

Sylar gritted his teeth as he found the bedding he'd brought down there earlier that day and began to inflate an air mattress. "I thought we kept it down."

"Oh, you did." Claude yawned. "Nary an errant bedspring squeaked while you two were up there alone together, you must not have been so rough with her as you were last night. Nah, Matt and Peter apparently overheard a few randy thoughts from the both of you. After a few minutes, both of them jumped up like their asses were on fire and practically fought over the leash to walk that walking pile of fur you and Ava call a dog. Finally they just walked him together."

"Cute." Sylar pulled off his shirt and pants and climbed onto the mattress, covering himself with a blanket before he ate his dinner. Claude watched him, smirking.

"Made yourself a sandwich, eh? If you and Ava had bothered to come up for air, you could have had chili with the rest of us. Bennet made it. It was pretty good, though quite a bit spicy. Between the peppers and the beans, my stomach has been rumbling like crazy." He lifted his leg and sighed. "Sorry about that."

"Sorry about wha-?" Sylar sniffed the air and gagged. "That's disgusting, Claude." He put his half-eaten sandwich down. "Thanks. I've lost my appetite now."

"Don't like it, go back upstairs and sleep with Ava." Claude mumbled.

Sylar swallowed down the pills in his hand, glaring at Claude. "Why in the hell are you even down here?"

"To keep an eye on you." Claude rolled over, his glare matching Sylar's. "You think I was going to let you sleep down here alone? You could run out on us through this door, or decide to go on a murderous rampage in the middle of the night and try and kill us all. I don't want someone waking up to feel you slicing their ruddy heads open!"

"And if I decided to run or kill, do you honestly think that YOU could stop me?"

"Damn right I can, Nancy Boy!" Claude nodded.

"Yeah. Right." Sylar smirked as he lay down and wrapped a blanket around himself. "Mr. Invisible is going to stop ME."

"Think I can't?" Claude threw his covers off and climbed off of his cot as he grabbed a metal rod propped against a wall. He prodded Sylar in the shoulder. "Get your arse up and prepare to have it kicked, you pillock!"

"Kiss my ass." Sylar rolled over onto his stomach as he closed his eyes. He yelped in pain as the rod smashed down on his back, across his kidneys. "OUCH! SON OF A BITCH!" He rolled over, wincing as Claude back up, twirling the rod and smirking. "What did you do that for?"

"Told you I could beat your arse. Now get up and take the whippin' that's comin' to ya!"

"FUCK OFF!" As Claude began to advance on him, Sylar jumped off of the air mattress tried to get out of Claude's way, ducking and dodging the metal rod as it was swung at him. He pushed out with his TK as the rod flew at his head, grinning as it bent back. Grabbing it in his hand as Claude glowered at him, he smirked as it melted to the floor in a puddle of goo. "What are you going to hit me with now?" .

"Oh, I'll think of something!" Sylar frowned as Claude turned invisible. He listened for the man's heartbeat, hearing him moving around him in a circle. "I can't see you, but I can still hear you, Claude. Ask Peter Petrelli what I do to invisible men to find them? I killed him once when he pulled this trick. Do you think that you could rise from the dead like he did?"

"No, but unlike Peter, I'm not turnin' my back on ya!" Sylar spun around as an invisible force smacked him in the stomach. "Try and melt a wooden and invisible fucking baseball bat, you Nancy!" Claude crowed as Sylar doubled over, coughing. Circling him, still invisible, Claude laughed. "Not so tough now, are ya?" Sylar heard Claude's laughter and realized he was standing behind him. Remembering a paint can that was on the floor behind them both, he twitched his fingers and sent it flying towards Claude's head. Claude heard the sound of the paint can rattling and ducked, his eyes widening as it hit Sylar's head instead. Sylar hit the ground face-first, unconscious. Reappearing, Claude ran over to the younger man and rolled him over, wincing at the goose-egg sized swelling to the back of Sylar's head. "Bloody fucking bollocking hell!" Claude groaned.

* * *

March 22, 2000

Thompson hadn't spoken a word to Ava since her visit from Linderman the day before. She'd had dinner with the both of them, as well as Kaito and Charles the previous night and had noticed the way Thompson alternated between sulking and glaring at her when he thought no one was looking. The plane trip home that morning had been tense and silent, as had the drive back to Primatech from the airport. The moment they stepped into the office, Thompson glanced over at her. "I need to see you in my office." He told her, his voice chilly.

Ava groaned inwardly as she followed Thompson into his office, expecting him to start ranting and raving about being interrogated by Linderman. She didn't expect the backhand that greeted her the moment the door was closed behind her. His hand shot out, striking the side of her face and sending her to the floor. Thompson was immediately upon her, wrapping his hands around her neck. "You little bitch." He sneered. "You just had to blab, didn't you?"

"I didn't tell him anything." Ava croaked, her face throbbing as the room began to darken around her. "He came to me and asked and I lied for you, you filthy son of a bitch!"

Thompson's hands loosened their grip somewhat for a moment. Ava took a moment to breathe, woozy from the rush of blood to her head before the hands tightened again. "You're lying. He came to me and said that he knew I was sleeping with you. He said that he didn't have any proof yet, but as soon as he did, he was going to have me terminated. You're not completely stupid, even though I DO wonder about you sometimes. You know what that means."

"I didn't tell him shit." Ava glared up at him as her hands quickly slid between his wrists. She quickly pushed out, knocking his hands away from her throat. Struggling to stay conscious, she shoved him away from her and tried to stand, her legs wobbling. "If you gave yourself away, that's your problem, but I told Linderman nothing. He came to me because Kaito suspected us, as well he should have with that bullshit story you told about Prague. I told him that nothing was going on, even though I should have sung like a damn bird and sold you out. I don't think he believed me, he said that he was going to talk to you and he was going to have you watched." Ava gulped for air as Thompson sat back on his heels, frowning at her. "He's probably already doing that, by the way, having you watched. If your office isn't bugged yet, it will be, so beating the shit out of me and threatening to kill me in here wasn't your smartest move."

"I swear to God, if you try and tell Linderman-"

"-If I was going to tell him, I would have done it in Vegas." Ava glared at him as she studied herself in a mirror, shaking her head at the angry red handprint on her face. "I knew if I blabbed, you'd kill Noah and his family. That's the only reason I kept my mouth shut."

"I will do it too." Thompson sneered. "If you EVER think about telling, the last thing I'll do is have Noah watch while his wife and son are murdered and while terrible things happen to Claire, things that shouldn't happen to any little girl, ever-" he stopped as Ava turned to him, his eyes widening as a trickle of blood began to ooze from his left nostril. He dabbed at the blood with his fingers, staring at it before turning his eyes back to her. "Did you just-"

Ava nodded, her eyes glittering. "-Oh, I just did. My power is definitely under my control, thanks to you and the diligence you've taken these last three years in having me trained to hone it. Now? I don't have to make your head explode, or your heart. I can give you a mild heart attack, or a mild stroke. Nothing that can kill you, just incapacitate you for a while and teach you a lesson. Just now, I raised your blood pressure a little, not enough to cause a stroke, but enough to make you realize that you're not calling the shots with me anymore, got it?" She knelt down beside him. "And if you EVER threaten that little girl again, I won't care what Linderman or the others do to terminate me, I'll make your head explode, but I'll do it after I've made you suffer a great deal, Mr. Thompson. You aren't going anywhere near Claire, you aren't going anywhere near Noah or Sandra or Lyle and you're never touching me again, not to kiss me, not to fuck me, not to hit me, not even to give me a proud little pat on the back to tell me that I've committed a job well done, do you under-fucking-stand me?"

"This isn't over you little cun-"

"-And if you finish that sentence and it DOESN'T end in 'country-living loving girl', I'll give you a mild heart attack right here and right now." Ava slowly stood up, smirking as Thompson looked away, a whipped expression on his face. "Now, I'm going home for the day. I think I'll be taking tomorrow off as well. If you have a problem with it, tough shit." She turned and headed for the door, turning back to him with her hand on the knob. "And if you feel like you have an itch that needs to be scratched from now on, you have a wife that can take care of that, don't you?" Smiling proudly, she turned and walked out of the room as Thompson stood up, sniffling away the blood that had stopped oozing from his nose.

"You're going to pay for this, you little bitch." He muttered. "You'll slip up, sooner or later and you'll have no choice but to come to me again. When you do? You'll pay."

* * *

May 15, 2007

"You hit him in the back of the head with a PAINT CAN?" Ava glared up at Claude as he paced the floor of the basement. Sylar was still unconscious, his head cradled in Ava's lap as Peter and Mohinder peeled back his eyelids and shined a light in them.

"Technically, he hit himself in the head with the paint can." Claude shrugged. "He was aiming for me and I ducked."

"Why was he aiming a paint can at you in the first place?" Ava raised an eyebrow as she stroked Sylar's forehead.

"We were clowning around?" Claude tried to smile and then sighed as Ava cocked her head to the side, smirking at him. "Okay, fine! I was hazing him a bit, trying to convince him that the basement wasn't exactly the best place for him to sleep. We got into a bit of a scuffle and he threw the paint can at my head with his telekinesis. I ducked and it hit him instead."

"In the BACK of his head?"

"I was standing behind him." Claude laughed. "Stupid bastard honestly thought I wouldn't duck?"

Peter and Mohinder looked at each other and shrugged. Peter shook his head. "Both of his pupils are equal and reactive to light. I think he's probably just got another slight concussion."

"Two in one week." Ava sighed. "He keeps up at this rate, he'll be talking like Mike Tyson." She stroked Sylar's cheek with her fingers. "Honey, wake up."

Sylar frowned and began to murmur. "Wha' happened Ma? The Brewster boys pick a fight with me again? Not giving them my lunch money again, dammit." His eyelids fluttered open and his eyes widened as he realized that Peter and Mohinder were kneeling over him. He looked up to see Ava looking down at him as well. "Am I in hell? Did I die?"

"No, but you're going to have a headache in the morning that will be bad enough to make you wish you were dead." Ava smiled softly. "You and Claude-"

Sylar's eyes narrowed. "-I remember." He started to sit up, his expression furious. Groaning as he clutched his head, he gingerly lay back down. "Bastard wouldn't let me sleep. Picked a fight with me."

"Just teaching you a lesson, Mate. Don't be such a baby about it." Claude muttered.

"I was minding my own business, trying to eat my dinner and go to sleep and he kept farting and then he started smacking me with a stick and then a baseball bat."

"We were just horsing around, nothing to get your knickers in a twist over it." Claude shrugged.

"I was minding my own BUSINESS!" Sylar groaned as Ava began to rub his temples. He looked up at her. "He said if I didn't like it, I should go back upstairs with you." His eyes narrowed. "You put him up to it, didn't you?"

"NO!" Ava looked away, guiltily.

Peter started laughing. "Did you put him up to it?"

"NO!" Ava sighed. "I knew Claude was going to do something to try and convince Sylar that sleeping upstairs with me would be better than the basement, but I didn't know he'd smack him around."

"Oh for bloody Christ's sake, Ava! You know me, what did you think I'd do, short sheet his little inflatable dinghy of a bed or stick his hand in a pan of warm water while he was sleeping?" Claude rolled his eyes.

"I didn't think you'd give him ANOTHER concussion." Ava shook her head as she smoothed the hair back from Sylar's head.

"I've got another concussion?" Sylar moaned. "Great! What's next, you two gonna break my nose again?" He touched the splint on his nose, grimacing. "You DIDN'T break it again, did you?"

"Oh hush." Ava rubbed his head gently. "I didn't know he'd resort to this, okay? Give me a little credit here, please."

Mohinder shrugged. "If he's got another concussion, he's going to need to have someone monitor him tonight, wake him up every few hours to make sure there's no brain damage."

"Brain damage?" Sylar whispered, his eyes widening.

"Like I could damage what little brain he's got." Claude muttered. "Hell, if anything, I probably improved that peanut that rattles around in his skull."

"So who's going to watch him?" Peter sighed, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Not Claude." Sylar shook his head slowly. "He'd probably try to finish the job."

"I'LL watch him." Ava rolled her eyes. "It's partially my fault that he's like this. When Claude suggested 'convincing' him to stay out of the basement, I should have been more specific and told him not to beat the snot out of him." Cradling Sylar's head in her hands, she gently slid out from under him and stood up. "Come on, Slugger. You're going back upstairs with me, whether you like it or not."

Sylar groaned as Ava helped him to stand, then reached out to steady him as he wobblingly made his way towards the stairs. Niki, standing on the stairs sighed as Ava supported him, one of his arms draped over her shoulders, and joined them, draping his other arm over her shoulders to help him up the stairs. Sylar blinked at her as they slowly made their way up. "You're really strong." He murmured.

"That's my power." Niki gritted.

"I think strong women are hot. Apparently Peter does too." Sylar winked at her. "You know, if you ever get tired of Sponge-Bob Hero Pants-" He winced as Ava cuffed him in the back of the head. "OUCH! Will people PLEASE stop hitting me? DAMN!"

"I'll stop hitting when you stop flirting." Ava glared at him.

Sylar giggled woozily. "OOOOOOH! Someone's jealous!"

"Shut up." Ava muttered.

They finally got him up the basement stairs, and then helped him up the stairs to the second story of the house. Ava nodded to Niki as they reached the bedroom door. "I've got it from here, thanks." She smiled at her as she opened the bedroom door.

"Yeah, Ava wants to be alooooone." Sylar laughed softly.

Ava shook her head. "You're still half-drunk and you've got a concussion. The only thing I'll be waking you up for all night will be to make sure your brain is still intact." She turned and took the ice pack that Peter offered, thanking him before ushering Sylar back into their bedroom. "Get into bed."

"Yes ma'am." Sylar slowly climbed into bed, wincing as his head hit the pillow. He raised his head for a moment to allow Ava to place the ice pack on the back of his head. "You sure you didn't put Claude up to this?"

"I'm sure. Why?" Ava climbed into bed beside him, turning off the light before lying back against the pillows.

"Because here I am, back in bed with you. You've got me where you want me, right?"

Ava rolled over, facing Sylar. "I wanted you in here, yes, but I wanted you here only if YOU wanted to BE here. I don't want you sleeping beside me just because it's a better choice than sleeping in the same room with an angry Briton with a bat."

"Right." Sylar closed his eyes and finally drifted off to sleep.

* * *

April 12, 2000

Thompson seethed in his office. For the past few weeks, Ava had pushed his buttons, while pushing him to the limit of his patience, by showing up for work and leaving whenever she felt like it, sometimes not even bothering to come in for days at a time. He fought the temptation to go to her apartment to 'discuss' that matter with her, but stopped himself as he realized that he was being followed wherever he went. He'd already found three separate bugs in his office alone, bugs that he knew had been planted by Linderman as a way to monitor his interactions with Ava at work. He didn't even want to know what else had been bugged. He studied a folder on his desk, grinning as he picked up the phone to call Ava's cell. As soon as she picked up, he smirked, fondling the folder as he talked. "Can we expect you in today? There's an assignment in New York I want you to go on."

"New York?" Thompson rolled his eyes at the bored sound of Ava's voice. "I don't know, Mr. Thompson-"

"-I think you should take the assignment, Agent Reese. You've been a bit lax in your duties lately. I'd hate to have to put a black mark on your employment record because of it."

He sneered as Ava laughed softly. "Fine. I'll take the stupid assignment. I'll be in soon to get the information."

"You do that." Hanging up, he shook his head. "Silly bitch." He muttered under his breath.

* * *

May 15, 2007

Sylar groaned as Ava's cell phone began to ring an alarm. Hearing her roll over, he muttered. "I'm fine. I woke up easily. Now go back to sleep and stop setting that damn thing every two hours."

"Someone's grumpy." Ava murmured as she reset the alarm and lay back on the bed.

"Well, I don't know WHY I would be." Sylar answered, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Could it be because I got my head bashed in by a pissy Brit, or is it because you keep waking me up every two hours to touch my nose or recite the alphabet or some other stupid shit like that?"

"Well excuse ME for wanting to make sure when you hit YOURSELF in the head with a flying paint can that you didn't scramble your brains permanently." Ava rolled over, struggling to go back to sleep.

"I wouldn't have hit myself if that idiot hadn't ducked." Sylar pouted. "My head hurts."

"Well, remember that the next time you mentally try to throw something at someone, especially when they're behind you and can DUCK!" Ava rolled over, glaring at him. "Honestly, what did you THINK he'd do, just stand there and LET it hit him?"

"Peter let that glass pierce his brain once." Sylar muttered.

"Well, Claude's reflexes are a bit more honed than Peter's apparently. You're talking about someone who was trained in combat by the OWI. Did you really and truly think you could take him on and walk away without a scratch? God, you never learn, do you? First I kick your ass, then Claude. When are you going to realize that getting into fights with OWI agents is not a good idea?"

"I kicked Bennet's ass a time or two."

"That's Bennet. He wasn't trained to fight as hard as Claude and I were. We were special ops. Claude started out that way and so did I. Bennet was trained to bag and tag. Claude and I were trained to kick ass and take names."

"You know, you could have told me that BEFORE I got into a fight with him."

"Well, if you'd ever pull your head out of your ass and listen, you would have heard Claude bragging about all of the times he used to beat the hell out of people for shits and giggles before he became Bennet's partner and started bagging and tagging, instead of just toe-tagging."

"So he used to be an assassin, like you."

"Somewhat, yes. He used to have a partner before his promotion, before he was partnered with Bennet. They traveled the world and took out specials that caused problems, that went rogue. That became my job after Claude was retired."

"Retired?" Sylar nodded. "You mean when Bennet shot him?"

"Yeah." Ava frowned. "Thompson ordered it. Claude found out that he was taking advantage of me and beat the hell out of him. Thompson took exception to it and ordered Bennet to kill him, claiming that Claude was hiding people with special abilities and that he was a liability."

"WAS he hiding specials?"

Ava nodded. "Yeah, he was. Thompson also doctored the evidence to make it look like Bennet was in cahoots with him. He used it against Claude and later against me, to keep us from going to the senior partners and tattling about what he was doing with me."

"So when you said that Thompson was taking advantage of you, and basically raping you, you weren't just feeding me a line of bullshit about that, were you? The affair that the two of you had really was against your will, wasn't it?"

Ava grimaced. "Of course it was." She glared at him. "Do you honestly think I'd let a sleaze like that touch me if I had a choice? I had the upper hand on him for a while and was able to get him to leave me alone, but then-"

"-What?" Sylar cocked his head to the side, watching as Ava struggled to keep from crying.

"I fucked up." She whispered.

"How?"

Ava shook her head as she climbed out of bed, noticing how light it was getting outside. She turned to the dresser and began to change into her running clothes. Sylar watched as she dressed and put on her shoes. "I haven't been running in a while, not since our knock-down, drag-out fight. I need to do that."

"How did you fuck up, Ava?" Sylar asked.

"I killed the wrong person, and met with an even more wrong one. Thompson found out and used it against me." Ava headed towards the door. "I know you're probably still tired. Try and get some sleep. We're supposed to start training today to get ready for Kane."

Sylar watched as Ava grabbed her Ipod and headed out of the bedroom. Frowning, he slowly got up, clutching the wall as the room began to spin. Fighting the nausea that washed over him, he left the bedroom and headed down to the dining room and kitchen.

Noah sat at the dining room table, sipping his coffee as Sylar shuffled into the room, swaying slightly. Noah looked up at him over his paper, frowning. "I heard there was some excitement with you last night."

"You could say that." Sylar clutched a wall as the room began to spin again. "Claude gave me another damn concussion."

"It looks like he rang your bell pretty good." Noah stood up and walked over to Sylar. "You should sit down."

"I need to eat something. I'm starving."

Noah rolled his eyes as he led the man to a chair. "I'll bring you a cup of coffee and a couple of ibuprophen. That concussion happened less than twelve hours ago-"

"-Try less than eight hours ago." Sylar closed his eyes as he gripped the edge of the table. "I was hungry and I couldn't sleep after Ava got up. I thought I'd be okay coming downstairs to get something."

"Well, that's what you get for thinking." Noah shook his head. "Let me guess, you're dizzy and nauseous?" As Sylar painfully nodded Noah sighed. "Been there. I'll dig something up for you to eat. After you do that, you should go back upstairs and stay in bed the rest of the day."

"Ava said we were going to start training today."

"Yeah, WE'RE training today. YOU are going upstairs after you eat something, where you will spend the day with a pack of ice on your noggin, resting." Noah frowned as he turned and headed towards the kitchen. "I'm not much of a cook, but I've been known to whip something up on occasion. What do you want for breakfast?"

"I don't care." Sylar rested his head on his arms, suddenly feeling exhausted.

"Scrambled eggs?"

"That's fine." Sylar sat up and turned, his eyes locking with Noah's through the bar that separated the dining room from the kitchen. "Why are you being nice to me?"

Noah raised an eyebrow and shrugged as he cracked eggs into a bowl and began to scramble them. "Because according to a prophecy and a painting of Isaac's, you are the main person standing between Kane and the rest of us. You're going to be the one to save my Claire from destruction by him, not to mention the rest of my friends and family. Also, Ava apparently cares pretty deeply for you, whether YOU want her to or not, not that she's the best judge in character by any means."

"You care a lot about Ava too, don't you?" As Noah glared at him, Sylar sighed. "I'm not referring to you caring about her in a sexual way, but she's like a daughter to you, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is." Noah nodded. "I'm not as close to her as I am to Claire, but Ava's a very special person, she's special to me. When we found her, she was in the middle of the darkest moment of her life, up that point at least. We faked her death and brought her to the OWI to train her to use her talents for the greater good-"

"-To make her an assassin."

Noah's lips tightened into a thin line, neither of them noticing that Claire had entered the room. "Yes. We made her an assassin. She was a scared kid when we first found her, only a year older than Claire is now. She didn't have anyone. Her parents believed she was dead, her friends WERE dead. Claude and I became her family. We became her fathers, brothers, uncles, whatever. So yes, I care about her a great deal. After Claude left, I was the only person she could talk to or confide in, but there were some things that she refused to talk to me about, things that I honestly suspected, but was too afraid to ask her about."

"Thompson." Sylar snarled.

"Yes." Noah shook his head angrily. "It wasn't until after Thompson died that I found out that he and Ava had been together, that he'd been forcing himself on her since her eighteenth birthday. I would have killed him sooner if I'd known about that." Noah stared at the skillet, stirring the eggs angrily. "He threatened my family, used that to keep Ava in line. He knew that Ava would do anything to protect me, and by extension my family. He threatened to have me, my wife and son killed if she told anyone, including and especially me about what he was doing to her. He threatened to have Claire-" Noah looked away, his voice getting choked up. He finally noticed Claire standing in the room, watching him, her eyes widening. "-Hey Claire-Bear."

"Hey." Claire nodded. "He threatened to rape me, didn't he?"

Noah looked away, nodding. "Yeah, basically."

Claire sat in a chair, tears brimming in her eyes. "After you told me about Ava and that she and Thompson had been together, even though she hated him, I always wondered why she stayed. Now I do. She stayed because of me, to protect me."

Noah sighed as he walked into the kitchen, carrying a plate of scrambled eggs and toast which he placed in front of Sylar with a glass of orange juice. "She did it to protect all of us, the entire family, a family that she had never met, but respected and considered herself a part of. Thompson was a seriously sick bastard for putting her in that position in the first place."

"It's what I would have done." Sylar began to eat slowly, rolling his eyes at the shocked looks on Claire and Noah's faces. "If I wanted to keep someone from blabbing about something, threatening the family or other loved ones is the first thing that anyone would do. I'm not saying I'd rape Ava or Claire or anything, GOD! I might be a serial killer, but even I have my standards." He nodded at the plate. "This is good, by the way. Thanks."

"You're welcome." Noah began to sit down until Claire's pitiful expression caught his eye. "What?"

"You made breakfast for Sylar and not me?" She batted her eyes sadly as she sighed. "I see where I fit in on the food chain now." Noah groaned as she poked out her bottom lip, pouting until he slowly headed back to the kitchen.

Sylar stared at her for a moment as she began to smile. "You just totally played him, didn't you?"

Claire laughed softly as she reached for a slice of toast, giggling as Sylar slapped her hand away from his plate. "Totally."

* * *

Spoilers:

The team begins to train as Kane decides to stop waiting around at Primatech and decides to track them down

A "wedding anniversary" dinner/date doesn't go as planned for Sylar and Ava

Kane brings the fight to the farmhouse.

The team has to find a way to get away from Kane to finish training in another secret location

More flashbacks reveal Ava's past with Thompson, Bennet and Claude


	17. Chapter 17: Training

Chapter Seventeen: Training

May 31, 2007

Sylar slowly woke up from his deep sleep, groaning as he rolled over. Every muscle in his body ached from the extensive workouts he had been subjected to for the last week. The other members of the team had been training for two weeks, as Sylar and Candice recovered from their respective concussions and stitches, watching from the sidelines as their group got into fighting shape by running every morning, before running obstacle courses in the back yard and learning fight techniques from Ava and Claude. A week behind the others, Sylar and Candice realized that they were in for a shock the first day they started training, when they realized that the group had worked their way up to running five miles every morning. Sylar honestly didn't know which one of them would keel over first, himself or Candice as the rest of the group started running without complaints at the crack of dawn. After the first two miles, Candice had stopped to throw up her breakfast, Sylar following suit after the third mile, while being urged along and prodded (mainly by Claude) to keep running and keep up with the group. By the time they returned to the house, Sylar had flopped down on the grass in the front yard, begging Ava to kill him when he realized that their day hadn't even begun. "I'll give anything to stop." He groaned. "Hell, at this point, I'll even let Mohinder give me another spinal tap if you just let me lie here for the rest of the day."

Ava had laughed softly as she pulled Sylar up, helping support him as he limped into the back yard. "Come on Pussy." She teased. "After a week of this, you'll wonder how you could have whined so much the first day."

She had been wrong about that, Sylar mused as he lay next to her in their bed. Every muscle still ached as much after a week as it had the first day. He was finally able to make it through the five mile run without throwing up or keeling over in the front yard, but he still woke up every morning wishing he could just lie there and spend the rest of the day bitching and moaning. He started to sit up and lay back, groaning in pain again as Ava rolled over, her eyes bleary.

"Still hurting?" She whispered.

"God yes." Sylar closed his eyes, grimacing. "I wonder if I sleep down in the basement tonight, if Claude will haze me again. I wouldn't mind another concussion if it means I can sit out another week." He opened his eyes and turned his head to face Ava as she propped up on her elbows, regarding him with an amused look. "You're trying to kill me, right?"

"No." Ava shook her head. "I'm trying to get you ready to fight Kane. Do you think he's going to let you or anyone else call a time out because you're tired?"

"I can't exactly fight him if my body hurts too much to even move." Sylar stared at her.

"Fight through the pain. You're going to have to do that anyway. He's going to hurt us, he's going to make us fight like hell. Once again, do you think he's going to let you call a time out because you've got a boo-boo? He's had four-hundred years to prepare for this, Sylar."

"So why are we even bothering?"

Ava glared at him. "Would you rather just sit on your ass and wait for him to track you down and kill you?"

"According to that prophecy, I kill HIM."

"Yeah, with OUR help! And even with us helping, just how do you expect to go up against him, when he's had four hundred years of preparation, without knowing how to fight, how to endure and how to work together as a team?" Ava sat up. "I know you're in pain, but it WILL go away. You're just out of shape, that's all."

"Tell me about it." Sylar shook his head. "Years spent sitting on my ass fixing time pieces wasn't exactly good preparation for all of this. I haven't had to do any running since high school when I had to run from bullies, pretty much." He sighed. "I just wish I didn't hurt so damn much!"

"Where do you hurt?"

"Everywhere."

"Be a little more specific, please."

Sylar glanced at her. "My back and legs are pretty bad."

"Fine. Roll over."

"What?" Sylar frowned.

"Roll over." Ava crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Do you want me to try and make the pain ease off, or do you just want to lie in bed and whine like a little bitch until it's time to run? Roll over."

Moaning in pain, Sylar rolled over. He smiled as Ava straddled him and began to massage his back. Stretching underneath her, he sighed with pleasure as her fingers began to knead the muscles in his back and shoulders. "That's nice."

"You're just putting on with this 'poor me' act, aren't you?"

"No, I'm really not." Sylar bunched a pillow under his chin, his eyes half-closed as he relished the feel of her hands on his aching back. "I was all stiff and sore everywhere when I woke up, I have been for the last week. In fact, not to sound like a baby, but I'm hurting more now than I did after Hiro stabbed me."

"Well, that's because after Hiro stabbed you, you woke up in a hospital on a painkiller drip. With the right meds, even being run through with a sword can seem like a day at the beach."

"Tell me about it." Sylar sighed. "I'd give anything for a dose of whatever they gave me in the hospital. That stuff was goooood."

"That stuff made you goofy as hell, if I remember, correctly." Ava smiled.

"Yeah, but at least I wasn't in pain."

"Don't worry." Ava shrugged. "It won't hurt forever. Soon, you'll be wondering what you were bitching about, I promise."

"Right. You're probably one of those imbeciles who talks about endorphins and how they're the body's 'natural painkillers'."

"Well, they are!" Ava looked up as they heard Claude's voice booming as he began to climb the stairs.

"UP AND AT 'EM EVERYBODY! IT'S ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL DAY IN OUR BLOODY NEIGHBORHOOD AND IT'S A BEAUTIFUL MORNING FOR A RUN! IT'S SIX IN THE MORNING AND ALREADY NINETY DEGREES! LET'S GET GOING EVERYBODY!"

"Bastard." Sylar whispered. "Sadistic fucking bastard." He lifted his head as their bedroom door flew open and Claude stood in the doorway, smirking at them.

"Oh what's the matter, is Baby Sylar all sore and achy after his little workout yesterday? Does he need his blankie and bottle after Ava's finished massaging him, perhaps? Shall I bring him breakfast in bed and draw him a hot bath?"

Sylar smirked. "That would be nice, thanks Jeeves."

Claude rolled his eyes. "OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE! GET UP! Breakfast is in ten minutes, people! DOWNSTAIRS! We've got to be on the road and running by six thirty before it gets so hot the pavement will be melting under our feet!" He turned and walked away as Ava climbed off of Sylar and walked to the dresser.

"I swear to God, the moment we're finished here, Claude's number one on my list of people I'm going to subject to my human can opener trick."

"Really?" Ava pouted. "I thought I was number one on that list. It sucks to be bumped."

"Oh, you're still on it Babe, trust me. You'll just be number two instead."

"Great, so I'm the shit." Ava teased.

"He gave me a fucking concussion."

"So did I!" Ava laughed. "AND I broke your nose."

Sylar shrugged. "You did it in self-defense. I attacked you and you tried to tell me to cut it out, I just wouldn't listen. Claude attacked me while I was minding my own fucking business and trying to sleep. THAT'S why he's numero uno on my list now."

"Ah, I see." Ava shook her head. "And speaking of Claude and concussions, you need to get up before he comes in here and beats you again."

"Five more minutes?" Sylar rolled over and watched as Ava pulled off her tank top and pajama bottoms. "Just five more minutes of your hands please?"

Ava grinned at him as she pulled on shorts, a jogging bra and tee shirt. "Come on, Baby Sylar. Let's get the day started."

"I'd rather the day was over so I could lie in bed and not move, ever." Sylar slowly rolled over and climbed out of bed, wincing at the tightness in his legs. "My legs cramped all night."

"Drink more water and take the vitamins the rest of us are taking." Ava laced up her running shoes as Sylar pulled off his boxer shorts and grabbed a pair of running shorts and a tee shirt. Her eyes hungrily scanned his body as he dressed. "A banana or two wouldn't hurt either."

Sylar turned and caught her look. Grinning, he winked at her. "And just WHAT made you think of bananas?" He laughed as Ava blushed and looked away.

"They have potassium, to help the leg cramps." She got up, avoiding his eyes as she grabbed her Ipod. "You know, you might bitch about all of the pain you're in, but you're looking pretty damn good." Her blush deepened. "Not that you looked bad before."

"You certainly couldn't keep your hands off me then, that's for sure." Sylar finished dressing and cleared his throat. Ava turned and met his eyes. "Thanks for the massage. It did help."

Ava nodded. "No problem." She smiled and walked out of the room.

* * *

April 15, 2000

Ava strolled down the streets of New York City, following her mark as she tried to blend in with the crowds. She had recognized John King almost immediately after being given his coordinates by Thompson. He had been tagged and bagged by the OWI once, but at that time, had been deemed basically harmless and was released after his mind was wiped by the Haitian. His power had been simple: he was a wall-crawler. He could climb walls and ceilings, defying gravity. Thompson had been ordered by Linderman to release him after he had been tested.

What none of them knew at the time was that John King was about to use his new talents to begin his career as a criminal. He's started out as a cat burglar, climbing the sides of high-rises to break into apartments to steal money and jewels. He'd recently ratcheted his criminal behavior up a notch by entering banks during business hours, hiding in the bathrooms until closing time and hanging out unseen on the ceiling until the building had been emptied of its employees before breaking into the vaults and stealing money there. He'd been caught on video cameras doing just that. The OWI had recently had their hands full, doctoring surveillance footage that showed him climbing walls and ceilings to hide and escape after setting off alarms. He'd become a liability to the OWI, proof that people with special abilities existed in the world. Ava had been given her orders: find John King, get him alone and kill him.

She groaned as he entered a bank and headed for the bathroom, realizing she couldn't follow him inside and, even if she did, she couldn't hide the way he could until the bank closed. "Shit." She muttered.

"Need a bit of help getting in, Luv?" Ava gasped as she heard the familiar voice behind her, her heart leaping as she turned, smiling. She frowned, realizing she couldn't see anyone. "It would probably be easier to get in and stay hidden until Spidey there decides to go on his crime spree if you were invisible, don't you think?" She grinned as she felt a warm, unseen hand squeeze hers.

Tears springing to her eyes, she squeezed the hand back. "Where are you?"

"Right beside you." She heard Claude's voice whispering. "I've been following this little shit for the last few days myself. I recognized him the other day on the street, remembered him from my tag and bag days, thought I'd follow him to see if he was keeping his nose clean. He wasn't. I've been following him more lately. I knew eventually, they'd send you. How have you been?"

"Oh Claude." Ava whispered. "I've missed you like crazy."

"I've missed you too, Kid." She felt the hand squeeze hers again as lips grazed her cheek. "Come on. I don't think Mr. King will be going anywhere and this bank won't be closing for a few hours more. Let's go somewhere private and catch up, what do you say?"

"Lead the way." Ava clung to his hand as he led her down the street, her eyes widening as Claude appeared beside her.

Claude winked. "How's it feel being invisible, Kiddo?"

Across the street, a man watched them through infrared glasses, glaring as the duo strolled down the street together unseen. He picked up a cell phone, dialing it. "Mr. Thompson, it's Agent Martin. You were right, that was Mr. Raines we saw following Mr. King the other night. He and Agent Reese have both taken the bait. They're walking somewhere together now."

In his office, Thompson smirked, closing his eyes with self-satisfaction. "Good job. Stay at the bank and let the two get a chance to reunite. I'll bet even money they'll be back before the bank closes to catch Mr. King. When they do, take them both out."

"Yes Sir." Agent Martin hung up his phone and waited, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

* * *

May 31, 2007

"COME ON PEOPLE! GET THOSE LEGS MOVING! PRETEND THAT KANE AND THE DEVIL THEMSELVES ARE CHASIN' YA!" Claude shouted to the group as they ran along the highway in the country.

Everyone groaned with exhaustion, everyone except Ava, who ran ahead of Claude. Sylar watched as she ran with her head down, her Ipod earbuds firmly plugged into her ears. With his sensitive hearing, he could hear the strains of "Basket Case" from Green Day thrumming from them. He could also hear her heart pounding loudly, and mused that it was beating even faster than it did when they would make love. He rolled his eyes as Claude clapped his hands, urging the group on. "Limey bastard." He muttered. "Who does he think he is, constantly yelling at us like a fucking drill sergeant?"

"He's someone with the training to actually BE our drill sergeant." Noah gasped as they ran.

"How's that?" Sylar groaned as he began to feel a stitch in his side. Clutching his side, he slowed down, taking deep breaths.

Noah slowed with him as the group ran ahead. "Before he joined the OWI, he was in the British Armed Forces, the army there. He was in the special forces."

"Oh, so we've got the invisible James Bond training us, I'm so honored." Sylar snorted.

"Basically, yeah. His training was what recommended him to the OWI. When he finished serving in the special forces, he was recruited by Kaito to come and work for us." Noah glanced over at Sylar. "When Ava came on board, he was the main one responsible for training her physically."

"Which is why she's such a hard-ass."

Noah laughed. "You've got it! For the first year she was here, he trained her, ran her and basically turned her into a soldier for the OWI. He taught her everything she knew to survive in the field, while also teaching her to control her powers better. He would wake her up at five a.m. for a five mile run, ending with calisthenics and then they'd move onto weapons training, stealth training and fight tactics. I'd help him out with that, usually as a human punching bag." He shook his head. "Thank GOD for padding, that's all I have to say about that. That kid could punch."

"You're preaching to the choir on that one." Sylar glared at Claude. "So that's the training he gave her? He taught her to be an assassin?"

"Yep." Noah nodded as they ran. "And I taught her how to be a lady and behave herself, wherever she was. She'd spend the morning and part of the afternoon with the physical training and then I'd take over and teach her languages and customs."

"Customs?" Sylar glanced over at him, confused.

"You know, how to behave around different people in different countries. She had to be able to blend in seamlessly anywhere."

Sylar nodded. "I have a question."

"Go for it."

"Do you think that, after all of this is over, after Kane's dead, if I'm still living-" Sylar looked away.

Noah stared at him. "What?"

Sylar shrugged. "Do you think I'd be welcome at the OWI? Would I make a good agent?"

Noah didn't speak for a while as they ran. Finally, he glanced over at Sylar again. "Would you be interested in that? Would you LIKE to be an agent? It's not glamorous, Sylar. It's not like a James Bond movie, no matter how Ava or Claude make it sound. There are things that we've done, the three of us, that will haunt us until the day we die."

"You mean like stalking people and killing them for their abilities?" Sylar raised an eyebrow at him.

"Point taken." Noah nodded. "You realize that if you became an agent, you wouldn't be allowed to go around killing people just so you can take their abilities, right?" Sylar nodded, wiping sweat out of his eyes. "And you realize that if you became an agent and you DID have to take someone out, which wouldn't happen very often, you wouldn't be able to take their abilities then too, right?" Sylar sighed, rolling his eyes as he nodded again. Noah stared at him, confused. "So why do you want to BE an agent?"

Sylar didn't answer for a few minutes. When Noah thought he'd changed his mind, Sylar began to speak. "Before Kirby Plaza, I spent six months running around the country collecting powers. I wanted to be special. I thought collecting power on top of power would do that. Now, I realize that running all over the place killing people didn't make me special at all, you know? It gave me more powers, it made people fear me, which was cool, but it also made them hate me and I was alone. I thought I liked being alone, I was used to it. I thought I was SUPPOSED to be alone, that it was part of my evolutionary imperative." He stared at the ground, watching his feet as they pounded along the pavement. "These past few weeks, I really started out hating every last one of you. I'm still not too thrilled with some of you" he glared at Claude's back again "but for the first time ever, I've begun to feel like I actually BELONG somewhere. I feel like I'm a part of something special, more special than killing or collecting powers, more special than my evolutionary imperative. I want to keep feeling that way, even after we've finished doing what we're doing here. I want to belong, for just once in my fucking life. I'm sick of being an outcast. I was a loner and an outcast as a kid. People called me a freak. I was a loner and an outcast as a teen and an adult. People ignored me and treated me like I wasn't there most of the time. These past few weeks, I've realized that I don't have to be alone and I really don't think I want to be anymore. I want to be an agent and belong somewhere, without being a killer and without being a loner. I guess I still just want to be special, but I want to find another way to BE special."

As they approached the house, Noah studied the younger man, finally nodding. "I'll talk to Angela and Kaito, see what they think."

Sylar turned to him and gave him a genuine smile. "Thanks."

Noah was surprised to find himself smiling back at the man who'd once attacked his family. "You're welcome."

* * *

April 15, 2000

They rounded a corner and found themselves in a blind alley. Ava shook her head, confused until Claude pushed open a door to an abandoned building. "Where are we?" She asked as they walked in.

"My new digs." Claude flipped a switch, smiling as Ava gasped. The building, an abandoned warehouse, which seemed dilapidated on the outside, was well-decorated inside. "It used to be a bloody crack house, until I pulled my invisible act and scared the crack heads into thinking that the building was haunted. They hauled ass, I moved in and cleaned up the place. It's easy to get supplies such as paint and whatnot when you're invisible." As Ava grinned at him, he shrugged sheepishly. "So I've been doing a bit of shoplifting, what of it? I've been pick pocketing too, to get money. I DO occasionally pay for things, the things that are a bit too heavy for me to just waltz out of buildings with like my mini fridge over here, or my telly." He sat down on a couch. "You'd be surprised what people throw out. Take this couch for instance, it was in pretty good shape still. A few slipcovers and it looks right presentable."

"It looks great." Ava sat beside him with a sigh before she threw herself into his arms, hugging him fiercely. "And the electricity?"

Claude grinned. "I'm basically stealing it from the building next door. It's a factory. They're not going to miss a megawatt here or there. Man's gotta live, right?"

"So how have you been?" Ava let Claude go as she sat back against the couch. "It's been eight months?"

"'Bout that, yeah." Claude nodded. "I'm good." He frowned. "And you? How are things with you?"

"Good." Ava shrugged.

"How's Bennet?"

"Bennet's fine." Ava sighed. "I took your advice. I haven't shut him out since you left, even though at times, I really want to fucking strangle him for shooting you the way he did."

"He's Thompson's puppet." Claude shook his head. "Don't blame him, blame the puppet master." Claude stared pointedly at Ava. "And Thompson? Rotten bastard still messing with you?"

Ava grinned. "He was, until I got the upper hand recently."

Claude smirked as she told him about Prague. "Stupid shit, thinking with his dick. You should have let that fucking assassin kill him."

"I know." Ava rolled her eyes. "I just went into my protect, defend and kill mode, the way you taught me. If I'd been thinking straight, I would have let the assassin blow him away, trust me on that."

"I taught you too bloody well, I see." Claude sighed. "So what happened afterwards? How'd you get the upper hand with him?"

"Well," Ava grinned "we had to report to Mr. Linderman to tell him what happened, as well as Mr. Nakamura and Mr. Deveaux. Mr. Nakamura suspected that something was amiss with Thompson and his bullshit story about being in the room next door when everything went down. He told Linderman about his suspicions, who talked to me about it."

"Please tell me that you told Linderman everything, he had Thompson killed on the spot, my name has been cleared and I've been hiding in vain for the last month."

"Sorry." Ava grimaced. "I remembered that Thompson had doctored the evidence against you to make it look like Noah was in on everything with you. I also remembered that Thompson swore that, if I ever told ANYONE, especially Linderman about what he was doing to me, the last thing he'd do before Linderman got to him was have someone kill Noah and his family. I caved and lied for Thompson."

Claude groaned. "Oh fucking hell, Ava!"

"Don't start cussing me just yet." Ava smirked. "Linderman didn't really believe me. He told me that he was going to start having Thompson monitored, and that he was going to have a discussion with him."

"Oh really?" Claude leaned forward. "Please tell me that Thompson was caught banging you on his desk and ended up going as he was coming, thanks to a well-placed bullet by Linderman's henchmen."

"No." Ava held up her hand as Claude started cursing again. "But he freaked out after Linderman talked to him and warned him that he would be watched. The minute we got back to Primatech, he asked to see me in his office where he slapped me to the floor and started to strangle me-"

"-That FUCKING PILLOCK!" Claude half-stood, his face turning red with fury. "I don't give a bloody SHIT if I get killed or not, I'm going back to Texas right now to murder him!"

"HANG ON!" Ava rolled her eyes. "He started threatening me, and then he started threatening Noah and his family, especially Claire. That's when I realized I'd had enough. I raised his blood pressure a tad and made his nose start bleeding to make him back off of me. Then I explained to him that unless he wanted Linderman to kill him, he was going to have to leave me alone from now on, because he WAS being watched. I also explained to him that I didn't rat him out, that Kaito and Linderman actually suspected him of diddling me and that I lied for him, even though I didn't want to, and if he ever threatened Claire again, or laid so much as a pinkie on me again, I'd give him more than just a simple nose bleed and that I didn't think Linderman would say 'boo' to me for it, either."

"And?" Claude sat back down, the redness in his face slowly fading. "How's he taken it so far?"

Ava leaned back with a smile. "He's left me alone since then. I've come and gone as I've pleased without having to worry about spending my lunch hour under his desk to give him disgusting 'special attention' and without having to worry about him pounding on my apartment door in the middle of the night demanding a booty call. It's been absolutely heavenly."

Claude nodded as he frowned. "Just be careful, Avery. Thompson might be down, but he's not out. I know him too well. Watch your back and keep your nose clean, got it? If I know him, he's just waiting for you to fuck up again so he can get something to hold over your head while he's hiking up your skirt." He sighed. "But he's been leaving you alone?" He beamed as Ava nodded. "That's incredible news, Darling!" He stood up and walked to a mini refrigerator, pulling two beers out of it. "And it calls for a drink!" He started to hand her a beer, then pulled his arm back. "How old are you again?"

Ava smirked. "Geneva's twenty, but Avery's twenty-two. Give me the damn beer." She grinned as Claude handed her the beer and sat beside her again, shaking his head.

"Twenty years old. Hard to believe it's been three years this month that we first met, eh?"

Ava sighed. "Feels like a lifetime ago."

"Tell me about it." Claude swigged his beer, looking around his warehouse apartment. "For some of us, it was."

* * *

May 31, 2007

Ava trudged up the stairs after she'd finished eating dinner. She was bone-tired after a long day of running and fighting, she knew Sylar had to feel even more tired than she was. He'd barely eaten before he'd limped up the stairs a few minutes earlier. She walked into the bedroom, frowning as she realized that he wasn't in the room. "Sylar?"

"Here." Ava frowned as she walked into the bathroom, then grinned as she spotted Sylar. He was stretched out in the bathtub, soaking in steaming hot water with his eyes closed. He opened one eye to see her, then closed it again. "Even my hair hurts."

"Poor Baby Sylar." Ava sighed.

"I'd tell you to stop calling me that, but I'm too tired to enforce it." Sylar murmured.

"Did you put Epsom salts in the tub?"

"Yes." Sylar sighed. "Along with some bubble stuff that you had under the sink. It's supposed to be calming and relaxing. It smells kind of girly to me."

"Yeah, but is it calming and relaxing you?"

Sylar shrugged. "A little, I guess." He slid his hands along the sides of the claw foot tub. "Remember when you first brought me here and I bitched when I first saw this old thing?"

"Yeah." Ava slowly began to pull her clothes off. "You said that you didn't understand why you'd keep something like that around, since you hated baths and the idea of climbing into it to take a shower was annoying as hell."

"I've changed my mind." Sylar opened his eyes and watched as Ava walked to the tub. He scooted forward to let Ava slide in behind him, then leaned against her, sighing as she began to massage his shoulders and arms. "I never want to get rid of this tub now. It's huge, it's deep, it's perfect for soaking in after a day of getting tortured by an angry Brit with special forces training." He smiled softly. "And it's roomy enough for two." He rested his head in the crook of Ava's neck. "I think I'm starting to loosen up a little. I'm not so stiff anymore." He grinned. "Well, at least my muscles and joints aren't."

Ava laughed softly. "Are you saying that something ELSE is stiffening up instead?"

"Keep massaging me the way you are and I'd say yes." He closed his eyes. "It's been torture sleeping next to you for the past two weeks and not being able to do anything."

Ava shrugged. "I've been waiting for you to make a move. First you had a concussion-"

"-I swear he rang my bell even worse than you did. I thought my head was going to fall off for a week-"

"-And this week you've been too tired and sore to do anything."

"I'm still tired. I'm still sore." Sylar tilted his head back as Ava lowered hers, kissing her softly. "But I still have needs."

"Are you saying that you want to-"

"-Yes." Sylar nodded and then sighed. "After the water cools off and I'm a little more loosened up." He rested against Ava. "I talked to Noah today about maybe becoming an agent after this whole Kane thing is over."

"Oh?" Ava kneaded Sylar's biceps. "What did he say?"

"He warned me that it's a tough job-"

"-It is-"

"-and that it wouldn't be glamorous or cool-"

"-it's really not-"

"-but that if I really wanted to do it, he'd talk to Angela and Kaito and see what they think." Sylar nodded. "I really want to do it."

"Okay." Ava smiled. "So you're going to try and be an agent with the OWI like you mentioned once before. You still thinking about going to a different division and working there?"

Sylar leaned forward as Ava's hands began to glide up and down his back. "I don't know. Do assassins like you ever take on partners?"

Ava's eyes widened. "Yeah, we do. Claude used to have a partner before Bennet. His name was Haram. They'd tag and bag and then sometimes they'd just toe-tag. He retired."

"Retired as in, he's hanging out playing shuffleboard in Boca Raton, or retired as in joined the choir invisible?"

Ava laughed. "The first one, smart ass! At least, I think it's the first one. He had a few medical problems and the stress of the job wasn't helping." She shrugged. "So you'd want to be MY partner?"

Sylar sat up and turned around until he was facing Ava, his eyes meeting hers. "Maybe. I don't know. Do you think we'd make a good team?"

"Maybe. Do you?"

Sylar studied her as she sat back in the tub. He nodded slowly. "I think we would." He crooked a finger at her. "Come here."

Ava smiled. "Why?"

"Just come here, dammit." He whispered. Ava sighed and moved towards him smiling as he pulled her into his arms before he leaned back. "We'd be pretty nutty partners, I have to say."

"It would be a toss-up as just which one of us would be keeping the other one in line at any given moment." Ava began to kiss him as she straddled him in the tub. "So we're partners."

Sylar shook his head. "Why in the hell do you have to define us at all?"

Ava rolled her eyes. "I don't know, God!"

"We're acquaintances with benefits, if you MUST have a definition."

Ava nodded. "Because no way do you consider ME a friend."

"Hell no." He kissed her as she began to move on top of him. He moaned softly. "And don't you go thinking that I love you or anything either."

"I wouldn't think that in a million years." Ava shuddered as he wrapped his arms around her, his lips buried in her neck. "You don't love me, I get it."

"I don't." He closed his eyes, his heart pounding as they made love. "I love this, but I don't love you, got it?"

Ava nodded as she moaned. "Got it."


	18. Chapter 18: A Day Off

Chapter Eighteen: A Day Off

June 1, 2007

Sylar limped down the stairs early that morning with Ava following behind him. Everyone greeted them in the dining room, equally bleary-eyed as Sylar nodded to them on his way into the kitchen. "I'd kill for a day off." Sylar poured himself a cup of coffee, then poured one for Ava, handing it to her. "And for me, that's not just a saying. I'd literally kill for a day off."

"Oh what's the matter?" They turned to see Claude leaning in the doorway. "Is someone sore and tired?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I AM!" Sylar glared at him. "You've been running all of us like a fucking drill sergeant for the last two weeks-"

"-one week for you, Mate!" Claude smirked. "You and Candice laid out the first week due to your injuries-"

"-I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to strangle you right now." Sylar leaned against the counter as he sipped his coffee. "I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd love one day off to rest. DAMN! Even God took one day off, for crying out loud!"

"God didn't have to worry about fighting Kane, you idiot!" Claude nodded. "I don't hear anyone else bitching about the pace I'm pushing all of you, just you. Now, stop whining and get ready to run!"

Angela cleared her throat. "Actually-"

Claude turned, staring at her. "What?"

She glanced over at Kaito. "I don't understand why Kaito and I are having to be subjected to this, not to mention Ando, Noah and Dr. Suresh. WE'RE not going to be fighting Kane." She shrugged. "And I think I'm getting shin splints. I'm not a young woman. Running five miles every day is starting to wear a bit thin."

"Who says you're not going to have to fight off Kane?" Claude turned to her. "Just because you aren't in the pretty little paintings doesn't mean you're not on the sidelines as support, just like your son suggested. Do you honestly believe that Kane is just going to ignore the people standing off to the side waiting to help the eight main warriors?"

Angela glared at him, pursing her lips. "I'm loathe to admit this, but I agree with Mr. Gray-"

"-Sylar-" Sylar muttered.

"-one day off won't hurt us." She shrugged. "Some of us could use one day of rest from all of the running and punching and fighting. Even the military gives their people days off on occasion, even in basic training."

"She's got a point, Claude."

Claude sputtered as he turned to Ava. "You too? Bloody mutinous bunch, the lot of you!"

Ava sighed. "Claude, even I'M pretty wiped out. You always gave me the weekend off when you first trained me. We haven't had a day off in two weeks. Every day we've been running and training. I agree with Sylar and Angela. I know Kane's coming, but at this rate, we're going all be too exhausted to lift a finger to fight him off. I know we have to train, but we also have to rest at some point."

"We don't have to spend the day just lying around." Peter spoke up. "Noah said that some techs from Primatech called yesterday. All of the supplies we've ordered have come in. We could spend today learning first aid and getting the antivenin kits ready."

Noah nodded. "I also ordered armor for everyone. After seeing what Kane did to Peter and Candice, I ordered Kevlar vests for all of us and helmets with face shields to protect anyone from his slashing and venom. We need to try them on and make sure they fit correctly to keep him from cutting anyone else to ribbons."

"He had claws." Candice shuddered as she touched her arm, the scars from the slashes still bright red. "It was creepy as hell."

"What do you say?" Ava walked over to Claude, resting her chin on his shoulder. "Lay off the drill sergeant routine today?"

Claude glanced down at Ava, then looked around the room at everyone else as they nodded at him. "Bloody hell, FINE!" He smirked as Ava hugged him and kissed his cheek. "But tomorrow morning-"

"-We'll run without complaint!" Ava gave him a final squeeze before she let him go and walked over to Sylar. "And now you can have a day to recover before we wear your ass out again, you big baby."

Sylar grinned. "I was just saying what everyone else was thinking."

"You wouldn't have to worry about being so bloody tired in the morning if you hadn't stayed up all night shagging Ava!"

Ava gasped. "How the hell did YOU know? We tried to keep it down!"

Claude smirked. "I didn't know until you just told me. I played the odds, figuring he couldn't last much longer than two weeks. Besides, you were grinning like an idiot when you came down for breakfast. I figured he'd finally let the 'Little Gladiator' out to play."

"Jackass." Ava laughed softly.

Peter sighed with relief as he stood up. "No running today. I think this will be the best day I've had in quite a while." He glanced over at Noah and Hiro. "So, we heading over to Primatech?"

Noah nodded. "As soon as Hiro's ready to teleport us."

"After breakfast." Hiro mumbled over a mouthful of waffles. "We'll get everything then."

* * *

April 15, 2000

"It's about time for the bank to close." Claude got up from the couch, smiling down at Ava. "Ready to go get this Spiderman wannabe?"

"Yeah." Ava stood beside Claude and hugged him. "If I don't get a chance to say it later, I've really missed you and I'm glad you're doing okay."

"As long as you're fine, I'm fine." Claude nodded as he grabbed a coat. "Now, let's go. It's been a while since I toe-tagged someone." He shrugged. "I'd offer to take him off your hands and take him into hiding, but I'm not going to for two reasons."

"And what would those reasons be?" Ava followed him out of his warehouse, watching as he padlocked the door behind them.

"First of all, I don't want to get you into trouble. If you don't tag this guy, Thompson will know something's up. Second of all, it won't matter where that idiot goes or how many second chances he gets, he'll just screw up again. He seemed rather criminal when we first picked him up. I wanted to go ahead and turn him over for dissection when we first got him, but I was overruled by Thompson and Bennet. They both stated that his power wasn't harmful enough to warrant it." Claude rolled his eyes. "Until the stupid bastard started robbing banks and got picked up on camera climbing walls and ceilings."

"Yeah, it was pretty stupid of him." Ava nodded. She frowned as Claude nudged her and pulled out a cell phone. "What's this?"

"Take it." Claude handed it to her. "I bought a pair of them. They're pre-paid. Anytime you need me, just call me. My number's programmed into yours. Just keep it out of sight of Thompson and the rest of the OWI gang. I don't want anyone finding out that we're in contact, but I don't want to lose contact with you again, understand?"

Ava smiled and nodded as she pocketed the phone. "How many minutes are on it?"

"A hundred." Claude smiled. "And the phone won't go out until the minutes are used up."

"Less than two hours of minutes." Ava sighed. "So when I do call you-"

"-You'll have to make it short and sweet, Luv." Claude took her hand as they left the alley, both of them turning invisible. "Just call me every month or so to let me know that you're okay. I'll do the same on my end as well, deal?"

"Deal." Ava nodded.

They headed towards the bank, slipping into the building and standing in a corner until the employees left, locking the building behind them. Staying invisible, they checked their watches, waiting for it to get dark. "Any time now, he should be crawling out of the bathroom." Claude whispered.

"And as soon as I see him-"

"-Blow his mind and we can head out." Claude grinned. "And let the wet works guys take care of the rest. They'll clean up the mess when you're done. Employees will arrive here tomorrow morning being none the wiser." He nudged Ava as the door to the bathroom slowly began to open. "Heads up, Kid."

Ava nodded as she let go of Claude's hand, materializing as John King slipped out of the bathroom and headed towards the bank vaults, crawling quickly along the walls. He turned as Ava walked towards him and gasped in shock. "What the hell?"

"You really should have kept your nose clean." Ava shook her head.

"He's not the only one, Sweetie!" Ava spun around, her eyes widening as she realized that Agent David Martin was standing behind her, holding a gun on her. He smirked. "Master key. That's how I entered the building. I know how YOU got in here. Where is our old friend Claude, anyway?"

Ava shrugged. "What do you mean?"

"Don't be a dumbass!" David cocked the gun. "I watched the two of you earlier through infrared glasses. I know he's here with you."

"And if I tell you? You still gonna kill me?" Ava glared at him.

"Yeah, but I won't make it slow." David jerked as a shot rang out and fell to the floor.

Ava looked around. "Claude?"

"You won't be killing her or anyone else!" Claude's voice rang out from the corner. "Stupid bastard."

"I don't know what the fuck is going on here, but I'm OUT!" Ava whirled around in time to see John King climb across the ceiling towards the front door that Agent Martin had left open.

"SHIT!" Ava tried to catch King as he reached the door and ran down the street into an alley, climbing another wall to get away from her before she could reach him. She turned and quickly ran into the bank, looking around. "Oh dammit!"

"Ava-"

"-Stay invisible." Ava looked around as she knelt beside Agent Martin's body. "Oh, I'm so screwed!" She turned in the direction of Claude's voice. "You need to leave. Now."

"Ava-" She could hear the pain in Claude's voice.

"-I have to call Thompson and tell him what happened." Ava's shoulders sagged. "Shit."

"He was going to kill you, Ava."

"I know." Ava nodded. "Thanks for saving me." She closed her eyes. "You should go before I call Thompson. He can't know that you were here. He can't know-" She began to cry. "-But he already knows, doesn't he?"

"I think so." Claude appeared beside her. He knelt next to her and pulled her into his arms. "I should have just distracted him, found another way to stop him, maybe."

"He's going to hold this over my head." Ava shuddered. "I fell right into Thompson's trap, didn't I?"

"You could run-" Claude started to speak as Ava shook her head.

"I can't run. He'll take it out on Bennet and his family if I do. You know that." Ava sighed. "Just when I thought I had the upper hand with him." She turned to Claude and hugged him. "Go. I'll call you later. I'll be okay, I promise."

"You'll never be okay as long as you're around Thompson." Claude sighed as he hugged her back. "Maybe I shouldn't have approached you."

"No, you should have." Ava nodded. "The punishment I'm going to get, and I will be punished," she made a face "it'll be worth seeing you again and knowing you're okay." She kissed his cheek. "Take care of yourself."

"You too." Claude sighed as he stood. "You sure you don't want me to stay?"

"You know what they'll do if they see you here." Ava squeezed the hand on her shoulder. "I can't have that on my conscience. Go."

Claude nodded and patted her shoulder one last time before he turned to leave. He turned back at the door, watching as Ava pulled her shoulders back and stood, pulling out her cell phone. His expression tortured, he turned and disappeared, walking down the street towards his warehouse. Once inside the place he called home, he lay on the couch. "God I'm a fucking idiot!" He shook his head. "This is what I get for caring. This is what happens when you let people close. Now she's going to have to pay for it." He closed his eyes. "Poor fucking Kid."

* * *

June 1, 2007

He had been watching the Primatech building for the last few weeks, his eyes scanning through the concrete and steel of the building every morning and afternoon for any sign of the people he'd attacked in the bar. He was growing frustrated as he realized that none of them would probably show up. They knew he was there in town, they were obviously in hiding. He'd entered the building itself once as a mist, trying to get inside the OWI to search the employee files but had been thwarted as he realized that all of the doors to the secret part of the building were sealed. There were no cracks under any doors to allow him to slip through. The ventilation system had been equally frustrating when he realized that it operated under negative pressure, keeping anything, even mists from entering the rooms. The atmosphere was obviously controlled from the inside the sealed area.

Sighing, Kane realized he would have to find another way to find the people in the painting, the ones who, according to prophecy, were due to fight him soon and destroy him. Employees always left the buildings in groups. No one left alone for him to capture and put under his thrall. He'd followed some of the cars after the first night that he'd attacked, furious to realize that no one was going to lead him to the ones he wanted the most.

He scanned the building with his eyes again and smiled as four people materialized in the building out of thin air. He recognized Hiro Nakamura instantly, as well as the slender, boyish looking man beside him. "Didn't die from my venom I see." Kane smirked. "Well, we'll just have to try again soon, won't we?" He ignored the man with the horn-rimmed glasses as he spotted the fourth man with them, recognizing him from the painting. He was tall with dark hair. "So now I know what YOU look like." Kane nodded. "You're the one with the dark soul, the one that Little Miss Firebrand is supposed to love. You're supposed to love her back, too. That's what caused you to join these people, that's what causes you to fight alongside them all against me." Kane smiled. "Peek-a-boo, I see you. Now I just have to get to you."

Inside the building, Sylar helped Noah, Hiro and Peter collect the boxes they were going to need. Groaning as he lifted up one box, he turned to Peter. "We should have brought Niki. She's got super strength."

"What are you saying? You think we should have loaded up my girlfriend like a pack mule or something?" Peter glared at him.

"Yeah!" Sylar nodded. "I know you've got it too, but two people with super strength to carry this heavy shit would have been awesome!"

"I don't recall asking you to come here and help." Peter smirked. "In fact, didn't you VOLUNTEER?"

"I didn't realize this crap would be so damn heavy!" Sylar sighed.

"It's still better than running up and down the road before beating the crap out of each other, so shut it." Peter turned to Noah. "This everything?"

Noah nodded as he lifted a few boxes. "Yeah, this is everything." He turned to Hiro. "We're ready."

* * *

April 15, 2000

"So you're saying that Agent Martin surprised you in the bank and tried to shoot you? Then you shot him and let Mr. King get away?" Thompson smirked as he paced behind Ava in the bank. As soon as Agent Martin had first called him, he'd taken a plane to New York. Ava had called him a few minutes before he'd landed at La Guardia airport. He'd arrived at the bank an hour after she'd called him. "THAT'S what you're telling me?"

Ava nodded, her expression blank. "That's what I'm telling you."

Thompson laughed softly. "And just WHY would Agent Martin want to shoot you?"

"Hell if I know." Ava shrugged.

Thompson walked around her chair as she sat in the lobby of the bank to face her. "And where was Claude during all of this?"

Ava's eyes widened for a moment before she shook her head. "I haven't seen Claude. I don't know what you're talking about." She gasped as Thompson slapped her. "What did I tell you about-"

"-SHUT UP!" Thompson grinned at her as he leaned forward, gripping her wrists as she clutched at the arms of her chair. "I already knew about Claude. I knew he met with you. I had Agent Martin following you, you little slut. I knew he was here all along. I knew if I sent you here, he'd find you. Dogs like him always find bitches like you." He smirked. "You two have a good time before the bank closed?"

"We didn't-"

"-Fool around?" Thompson leered at her. "That's why he attacked me last year, wasn't it? He denied it, you've always denied it, but why else would he be so protective of you? You two have probably been carrying on together behind my back for quite a while." As Ava shook her head he placed a finger against her lips. "Don't speak. Don't even try to deny that you saw him. Martin took pictures of the two of you coming into the bank with an infrared camera before he followed the orders I gave him and came in to kill the two of you." As Ava's eyes widened, he nodded. "Yeah, I told him to kill you. You've become a liability, Ava. You're a loose cannon and your loyalties no longer lie with the company, do they?" He smirked as Ava looked away, tears brimming in her eyes. "Oh, you gonna turn on the tears now? That's not going to work."

"What do you want?" She whispered.

"You know what I want." Thompson nodded. "I'll doctor the reports. I'll doctor the surveillance footage. Officially, when you came to New York, I had you meet with Agent Martin to take down King. King pulled a gun and killed Martin. He tried to kill you before he escaped. I'll leave your meeting with Claude out of this. I'll save your life this one time on one condition."

"What's that?" Ava closed her eyes as tears began to stream down her cheek.

"Once Linderman calls off his spies, you and I are going to start our little affair back up." He grinned as Ava slumped in her chair. "You're going to do what I want, when I want and however often I want, without whining or bitching or dragging your feet." He leaned closer to her, his lips brushing her ear. "And you're never going to contact Claude again. The next time you put a toe out of line, either professionally or personally with me, I'll kill you after I've made you watch as I kill the Bennet family. Understand?" Ava nodded. "Now, officially I'm registered at the Hilton. YOU, however are going to the Plaza Hotel. There's a room there under the name Jack Sawyer. You're going to Mr. Sawyer's room where you're going to wait for me. When I get there later, you're going to give me the fucking of a lifetime and you're going to act like you enjoy it. Got it?"

"I really loathe you." Ava glared up at him. "The day you die will be the happiest day of my life."

Thompson snorted as he tried not to laugh. "Cute. If you don't like our little arrangement, I can just skip to the part where you watch Noah, Sandra, Lyle-" He nodded as Ava shuddered and looked away. "Good girl. Toe the line, Princess." He stood up. "Head to the hotel. I'll send wet works in here to start cleaning up." He watched as Ava walked away, smiling to himself. "Don't mess with the big dog, Kid. Big dog always bites back."

* * *

June 1, 2007

Ava sat on the couch with Candice and Niki, sighing as she stretched. "God, I love having a day off!"

"Tell me about it!" Niki closed her eyes. "I thought Claude was going to kill us. Who'd have thought we'd have something to THANK Sylar for?"

"Not me!" Claire walked into the living room and sat in a recliner, grinning as Mac jumped into her lap. "I never thought I'd thank him for anything in a million years."

"Hey, he's got his uses." Ava grinned.

Claire made a face. "Well, I'M not going to be using him for that, ever! How can you stand it?"

Ava looked over at Claire. "What can I say? Guy knows how to work it. You'll know what I mean in a few years when you meet someone who makes you as crazy as Sylar makes me." She turned her head as the phone started ringing. "What the hell?" She got up and answered it. "Hello?" She frowned. "Uh no, Mr. Abbott isn't here right now, may I take a message?" Her eyes widened. "REALLY?" She grinned as Sylar, Noah, Peter and Hiro appeared in the living room, holding boxes.

"Shit! These are heavy!" Sylar carefully put his boxes down and stretched. He frowned at Ava. "Who's on the phone?"

Ava held up her hand. "I'll be sure to let Mr. Abbott know. Thank you." She hung up the phone as Claude and Hiro walked into the living room. "Something you wanted to tell me, Babe?"

Sylar shrugged. "What?"

Ava smiled. "That was the Crowne Point Hotel in San Antonio." As Sylar groaned, Ava nodded "They wanted to remind Mr. Abbott that he had a reservation at their hotel for the weekend of June eighth."

"Shit." Sylar closed his eyes. "Between getting my ass kicked by you, getting imprisoned by the rest of you, having all of you move in, getting my brains scrambled by Claude, and training, I forgot to cancel that reservation."

"You were planning on taking me off for the weekend?" Ava leaned against the wall.

"No, AARON was planning on taking ALEXANDRA away for the weekend before their anniversary. I'm not taking YOU anywhere." Sylar started to walk out of the room.

"They also wanted me to remind you that you're past their cancellation grace period and if you cancel now, they're still going to expect you to PAY for the reservation, even if you don't use it!" Ava smirked as Sylar froze in his tracks. "Oh yeah, even if you don't go, you're still going to have to pay for the Friday and Saturday night we DON'T spend there."

"Fucking thieves!" Sylar gasped. "That place is pretty damn expensive too!"

"Oh how sweet!" Ava teased. "You were going to drop a pretty pricey load of cash on me, huh?"

Sylar shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "It was our anniversary. You said once that you'd never been to San Antonio."

"I haven't." Ava shook her head. "Must be a nice hotel."

"It's on the Riverwalk." Sylar looked away.

"So let's go anyway." Ava smiled at him.

"What?" Sylar stared at her.

"Excuse me?" Claude glared at them both. "Next weekend we're training!"

"I have to agree with Claude." Noah nodded. "We don't know how much time we've got before-"

"-You have a choice, Sylar. Spend a weekend with me in San Antonio in a luxury hotel, or pay for a room you won't be using while Claude whips our asses into shape." Ava sighed. "What's it going to be?"

"You're NOT going!" Claude shouted.

"Oh, give them a break!" Matt laughed. "It's their anniversary!"

"In order to have an anniversary, you have to be married, Smart Ass!" Claude snapped at him.

"There is a marriage license upstairs." Ava nodded.

"Yeah, for Alexandra and Aaron Abbott, not Avery Reese and Sylar-" Noah stared at Sylar "-that's all you call yourself, isn't it, just Sylar."

"Like Prince." Ando nodded.

"Or Cher." Niki snorted, ignoring Sylar's glare.

"Judging from the sounds I've heard coming from their bedroom, technically in some cultures, they're already married." Claire shrugged. "Heck, I say if it puts him in a better mood, let Ava drag him to San Antonio and ride him like Seattle Slew."

"CLAIRE BENNET!" Noah spun around and stared at her as everyone started laughing.

"What?" Claire looked around. "Am I the only one who's noticed that Sylar's in a better mood when he's getting laid? Why is it the teenager that always has to point these things out?" She turned to Sylar. "Would you rather stay here next weekend and be subjected to boot camp, or would you rather go to San Antonio where you can get lots of nookie and won't have to worry about disturbing the rest of us?"

Sylar rolled his eyes. "Fine. San Antonio it is."

"No it isn't!" Noah glared as Sylar trudged up the stairs with Ava following behind him. "It's not happening! Do you two hear me! It's NOT HAPPENING!" He turned and glared at Claire as she started giggling. "What now?"

"And I thought I was the only person you talked to like that! She really IS like your other daughter, isn't she?"

"Not so much." Noah sighed. "YOU wouldn't defy me quite like that."

"I'm still young." Claire winked. "Who knows how defiant I'll be by the time I'm Ava's age?"

* * *

April 15, 2000

Claude sat up as his cell phone began to ring. He snatched it up and flipped it open. "Ava? You okay?"

Ava sat in the hotel room that Thompson had sent her to. "I'm still alive." She closed her eyes. "He knew you were here. He sent me here because he knew you'd find me. He set me up."

"Bastard." Claude whispered. "You think he knows where I live?"

"I don't know." Ava struggled not to cry. "He thinks we're having an affair. I've been ordered not to ever contact you again."

"Where is he?" Claude stood and began to pace the floor of the warehouse. "I'm going to kill him. Has he hurt you?"

"He hit me when I denied that you were here." Ava sighed. "He reserved a hotel room under an assumed name so Linderman's people won't find him. He sent me here. I'm under his thumb again."

"Ava-"

"-I'm going to play nice, for now." Ava took a shaky breath. "But I'm not going to stop contacting you. You're the only one who keeps me sane. I can't tell Bennet about this, he can't know, so I can't go to him. I'm not going to stop talking to you."

"I hope not." Claude sighed. "You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah." Ava lied. "I'll just lie back and count the tiles in the ceiling until he's had enough. If it's any consolation, he's not going to be able to do anything to me after we get back to Texas for a while, not until he knows that Linderman's not spying on him anymore. I just have to endure tonight. I'll be okay."

"I wish I could help you run away. I'm going to find a way, Ava." Claude ran his fingers through his hair.

"I'll be okay, Claude. Don't do anything drastic, okay? Just sit tight until this is over. I love you."

Claude's face crumpled as he sat on the couch. "I love you too, Kid. If he ever hits you again-"

"-I'll blow his brains out and face the consequences. Bye." Ava hung up the phone and turned off the ringer before she hid it in her purse. She sat on the bed and buried her face in her hands, sobbing.

Claude hung up his phone and looked around. "Guess I'm going to have to move, just to be safe." He whispered to himself. Pocketing his phone, he picked up a beer bottle and threw it against the wall, shouting as it shattered. "DIE YOU FUCKING DISGUSTING BASTARD!"

* * *

June 1, 2007

They sat at the dinner table together, eating dinner silently. Everyone had spent the day learning CPR and how to intubate someone with the dummy that Peter had ordered, before getting fitted for their Kevlar vests and helmets. They'd run through fighting techniques while wearing the helmets to make sure that they could see okay out them. Afterwards, they'd put together portable first aid kids for all eight of the main fighters, complete with syringes filled with anti-venin before placing the kits in the refrigerator to keep the anti-venin fresh.

Sylar looked around the table at everyone and shrugged. "Who cooked tonight?"

"I did." Niki looked up. "Angela and I did, actually."

"It's good." Sylar nodded as he ate his helping of roast. "Great, really."

"Thanks." Niki smiled.

"Thank you." Angela set her fork down and leaned forward on her elbows. "As a senior partner, I'm giving you and Agent Reese permission to go to San Antonio next weekend."

Ava grinned. "Thanks!"

"Now wait a bloody minute!" Claude looked around at everyone. "What the blue fuck?"

Angela turned to Claude. "We're going to train tomorrow to make up for today, but we're taking Sunday off as well. Starting Monday we'll train during the week and have weekends off. We need rest, Claude. They can go to San Antonio. I'll have a few agents from other divisions go as well to keep an eye on them both, make sure Mr. Sylar here doesn't try to escape."

"Like I'll be able to escape with my warden beside me." Sylar muttered. "One ass-kicking from her was enough."

"Two ass-kickings." Ava smirked. "Remember when you tried to kick my ass again in your cell at Primatech? Who won that round?"

"You didn't kick my ass!" Sylar snorted.

"If I recall, it devolved into a hair-pulling girl fight." Matt laughed.

"Yeah it did!" Peter nodded. "That was funny as hell, too! Especially when Ava shrieked 'Let me GO you big girl'! That was the best part of it, really!"

Sylar rolled his eyes. "Anyway, there's no need to have us watched, I'm not going anywhere." He shrugged. "I know I'm going to have to face Kane sooner or later. Personally, I'd rather face him with you guys beside me." His eyes widened as everyone stared at him in shock. "WHAT?"

"Nothing." Claire grinned. "I just never thought I'd see the day when Sylar became a team player."

"Oh hush." Sylar tried not to smile as he lowered his head and finished eating his meal.

* * *

April 15, 2000

John King ran along the rooftops of the city, his heart pounding as he thought about the close call at the bank. Finally, he stopped running and climbed down the side of a building, catching his breath in an alley.

"Why are you running?" King turned to see a slender blond man walking towards him. "Someone chasing you?"

"Something like that." King nodded. He looked around. "Where did you come from? I didn't see you in the alley or the street before I climbed down."

"Oh, I was here, you just didn't see me." The man smiled.

"Cool." King backed away from the man, his heart pounding as the man slowly began to walk towards him.

"Your power is very interesting too. I can't wait to try it out for myself."

"Excuse me?" King tried to rush past him and gasped as the man grabbed him and shoved him against a wall. He struggled to get away as the smaller man wrapped his hand around his throat. "Who are you?"

"My name is Kane. You have a VERY interesting power. Very interesting indeed." Kane lifted a finger. John King began to scream as he saw a long claw begin to jut from the man's finger. His screams became louder as the claw began to slice open his forehead.

People passed by the alley, not hearing the screams, not noticing the murder that was taking place just a few feet away from them. Moments later, Kane smiled as he stood up, blood smeared over his mouth. He walked towards a wall and touched it, beaming as he began to climb up the wall of the building and away from the alley below.


	19. Chapter 19: The Hunter Finds His Prey

Chapter Nineteen: The Hunter Finds His Prey

June 3, 2007

Sylar woke up to see Ava was already dressing for the day. Checking the clock, he smirked. "You know, we have today off, thanks to Angela. You don't have to get up at the ass-crack of dawn this morning."

"I know." Ava nodded. "But I noticed something last night."

"What?" Sylar murmured sleepily.

"We're almost out of clean clothes." Ava sighed. "And groceries."

"So?" Sylar rolled over, burying his face in his pillow. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"We've been training practically non-stop for the last two weeks. We haven't had time to wash clothes, clean this house or get food. If I don't start OUR laundry today at least and go shopping, we're going to be a stinky, hungry group of people." Ava walked over the hamper and raised the lid, making a face. "Ugh!"

"What?" Sylar groaned. "I'm trying to sleep here."

"Sweaty clothes. They get a bit rancid after a couple of weeks." She opened the bedroom door and carried the hamper into the hallway. Setting it down, she walked back into the bedroom. "I ought to make you wash your own damn clothes now! It's not like I'm really your wife."

"Really?" Sylar propped himself up on one elbow, grinning at her. "Then I guess you won't mind if I go to San Antonio alone next weekend."

"Ass." Ava glared at him for a moment before she turned and walked back into the hallway. She poked her head back in the doorway as Sylar sighed and closed his eyes again. "When you DO finally decide to get up, you WILL come downstairs and help me."

"I'll get right on that." He muttered as he shoved his head under a pillow. Moments later Mac ran into the room and jumped on the bed, barking at him and digging at the covers. Sylar rolled over as Mac leapt onto his chest, barking. "Oh NOW you decide to come in here, huh? Got tired of snuggling with the others at night?" He sighed as the dog began to whine. "What?" Mac jumped off of the bed and ran to the door, turning back to him and sitting up on his hind legs. "I'm not good enough to sleep with, but I'm still good enough to walk you, huh?" Sylar shook his head. "Between you and your mommy, I'm not going to be allowed to sleep in on a Sunday morning, am I?" Throwing back the covers, he climbed out of bed, following the puppy as he bounded down the stairs. "Fucking dog."

* * *

April 16, 2000 

She lay in bed, curled up in the fetal position, trying to stay as far away from Thompson as she could. He lay in the bed beside her, sleeping. Ava tried to sleep, waking up with a start every time Thompson moved or his breathing changed. The night she'd spent with him had been practically unbearable. She tried not to cry as she thought about how he'd treated her and wished she could muster the courage to roll over and direct her powers at him. She hated him, wanted him dead for everything he'd done to her that night, and everything he'd done to her for the past two years. She held her breath as she heard him wake up and felt him roll towards her. "You asleep?" He whispered.

"No." She muttered, gritting her teeth as she prepared herself for whatever he had in store for her next.

"Good." He sighed. "Get dressed and get out. I can't sleep with you lying next to me sniveling like a baby. Go back to your own hotel room."

Ava took a deep shuddering breath. "Thank you." She whispered as she climbed out of the bed and gathered her clothes. She quickly dressed and grabbed her purse as she headed for the door.

"Ava?" She closed her eyes and turned towards Thompson, opening them slowly. He sat up in bed, smirking at her. "Remember. I own you now, don't I?"

Ava nodded slowly, tears stinging behind her eyes. "Yes Sir."

"Good." Thompson raised an eyebrow. "Tonight was, interesting. Do better next time."

"I'll try." She whispered.

"NO. You won't TRY, you WILL do better, or you know what will happen, understand?"

Ava struggled to keep her composure. "Yes Sir." She turned and quickly walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. Her legs trembling, she made her way to the elevator and pressed the button for the lobby. She closed her eyes. _Don't lose it, Ava. Don't lose it here. Wait, get to your own hotel and lose it there. Don't freak out here. _Taking deep breaths, she walked out of the elevator and, keeping her head down with her hair in her face to hide the bruises she knew were welling up on her right eye and cheek, walked through the lobby and onto the sidewalk outside.

Gabriel Gray slowly trudged down the sidewalk in Manhattan, wishing for the millionth time that his mother would just leave well enough alone. He'd just been through another nerve-wracking disaster of a date with yet another woman his mother had 'found' for him. This one was a college student from Columbia who attended his mother's church. He knew the moment he'd met the girl and saw the expression on her face that he was an obvious disappointment to her. His mother always did this to him, setting him up with pretty girls from upwardly mobile families while describing him as being so 'handsome and smart and special'. Most of the time the girls would agree to a date with him just to make his mother leave them alone. After the girls would meet him and go on that first date, there was never a second one, and he knew as soon as the girl hailed cab after the late dinner following the movie they'd seen that this date would be no exception, not that he cared. Her name was Christina, and she was so far from his type it wasn't funny. She was a tiny blond sorority girl at Columbia, obviously only attending to obtain her MRS instead of an actual useful degree. She was obviously looking to connect herself with a guy named Biff or Chip, who would make at least six figures a year working on Wall Street during the week before spending the weekends at the country clubs in the Hamptons. She'd been polite, but hadn't shown much interest in him, especially after he told her that he'd recently graduated from a local community college with a degree in machinery repair. Her interest had waned further when he told her that he now owned his father's watch repair shop in Brooklyn and was happy with his job. He didn't have an apartment in Manhattan, he lived in an apartment over the repair shop. He didn't work on Wall Street, nor did he ever want to. He was of no interest to a girl like Christine.

Gabriel glanced up at the Plaza Hotel as he approached it, smiling. He loved the architecture of the building, the way it loomed over the street. Passing the building always lifted his spirits, even when he was as annoyed and frustrated as he was late that night.

He was still smiling up at the building when the woman quickly stepped out of the front doors of the building, her head down as she stumbled and tried to keep walking. Not looking where she was going, she plowed straight into him. Gabriel and the woman both gasped as he reached out his hands to steady her while trying to keep his own balance. "Sorry." He whispered.

The woman continued to stare at the ground as she shook her head. "No. I'm sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going. You're okay." She started to step past him, her hands shaking as she tried to shoulder her purse. As she walked past him, Gabriel heard something hit the ground. Reaching down, he picked up a phone.

"Miss?" He held out the phone. "Miss, wait! You dropped this." He walked towards her as she stopped, her back to him. "You dropped your phone." His brows furrowed as she slowly turned, her head still down. Her long red hair hung over her face, hiding it as she glanced over at him.

"Thanks again." She whispered, holding her hand out for the phone. Gabriel gasped as the sleeve of her shirt slid up her arm, revealing the bright red welts on her wrist.

"Oh my God!" Gabriel reached out and gently grasped her wrist, pushing the sleeve up to study the welts. "What happened?" He stared at her, as she looked away, her hands trembling. "Miss? Were you attacked?" He gasped again as she shook her head, her hair falling away from her face. The right side of her face was mottled with red and purple bruises. "Oh-" Gabriel's eyes filled with tears as he reached out and gently touched the side of her face. "What happened to you?"

Ava's eyes closed for a moment as she tried to pull herself together in front of this stranger. "Nothing."

"SOMETHING happened." Gabriel shook his head, sighing sadly as he noticed red welts on her other wrist as well. He looked into the woman's eyes, noticing how beautiful and sad they seemed. "Please let me take you to the police, or-"

"-I'm okay." Ava nodded. "Really. I can't go to the police." She took a shuddering breath as she reached out and touched the hand that cradled her swollen cheek. "I'm going to be okay."

"Are you sure?" Gabriel asked.

Ava smiled reassuringly. "I'm sure." She realized as he stared at her worriedly, touching her bruised cheek with his hands, that she was calming down. _At least there's still the occasional white knight in training out there. Not every guy in this world is a bastard._ She thought to herself as she stepped away from him. "But thank you for stopping and worrying about me." She smiled sweetly and held out her hand. "My phone?" Gabriel nodded as he handed her the phone. Her smile faltered, her bottom lip trembling as she realized that she'd almost lost the phone that Claude had given her. "Thank you. " She looked back up at him, shoving the phone in her coat pocket. "I need to go, it's late."

Gabriel nodded as Ava approached the curb and watched as she tried to hail a cab. After a moment, he walked over to her. "Let me." He whistled and waved as a cab drove by and grinned when it slammed on its brakes and backed up to them.

Ava glanced over at him and smiled. Gabriel's heart began to pound at the smile. "Impressive." She walked over to the cab as he followed her and quickly leaped ahead of her, opening the cab door for her. Ava started to climb into the cab and stopped. Looking up at him, she climbed out and gently kissed his cheek. "I guess there are still gentlemen out there after all. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Gabriel whispered, blushing at the kiss as she turned and climbed into the cab. He watched as the vehicle pulled away from the curb and drove out of sight. Touching his cheek, he shook his head. "Jackass." He muttered. "You could have said 'Hi, I'm Gabriel and whoever did that to you doesn't deserve you. Wanna grab a cup of coffee? My apartment is just a cab right away, I could put some ice on your cheek and let you sleep on the couch' but no." He sighed. "God I'm an idiot." Mentally kicking himself, he stuck his hand out, hailing his own cab and climbed inside, wishing he had at least asked the woman her name. Riding home to his apartment in Brooklyn, he leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes, thinking about her red hair and beautiful eyes. "Now THAT is a woman who is more my type." He whispered to himself. "Why can't Mom meet HER in church?"

* * *

June 3, 2007 

Sylar walked back into the house with Mac as Ava stepped out of the kitchen. "So you ARE up after all, huh?" She smirked.

"Someone felt the call of nature." Sylar mock-glared down at the dog as he took off the leash. "I'm not good enough to snuggle up to in the middle of the night anymore, but I'm good enough to wake up when he's gotta take a piss."

"Poor baby." Ava grinned. "Breakfast?"

"Sure." Sylar walked into the kitchen. "What'cha cooking?"

"Pancakes."

"Blueberry?"

"Yep!" Ava nodded.

Sylar stopped and stared at her. Crossing his arms, he leaned against the counter. "Okay, what do you want?"

"What?" Ava blinked innocently.

"You only make those when you want me to do something. The last time you made them, I was halfway through eating them when you asked me to cut the grass and help you weed the flower beds. Another time you made them, you asked me to move the bedroom furniture around and another time, you suddenly remembered halfway through breakfast that you had a tire that was going flat and you needed it changed. What do you want now?"

Ava blushed. "Busted."

"I know. So?" Sylar looked pointedly at her.

"Finish our laundry while I go to town to get groceries? I've already sorted everything out. All you have to do is put a load in the washer when it's finished and put the wet load in the dryer."

"See?" Sylar picked up a plate of pancakes as she put the last one on from the griddle. "All you had to do was ask. I don't know why you always feel you have to bribe me." He grinned. "It works, but I don't understand why you feel you have to."

Ava laughed. "Because it works, duh! Besides," she shrugged "I figure it's better to do something nice for you before I ask you to do something I know you'll hate."

"Whatever." Sylar sighed as he carried his plate into the dining room. He looked up as Hiro trudged into the dining room. "Morning."

"Good morning." Hiro stared as Sylar poured syrup over his pancakes. "What's for breakfast?"

Sylar smirked. "Whatever you can scrounge up. Ava made my breakfast."

"Pancakes?" Hiro stared at them. "They're good?"

"Wonderful." Sylar looked down at them. "She makes excellent pancakes."

"Like waffles? I like waffles." Hiro continued to stare at Sylar's plate.

Sylar glared at him for a moment, then began to smile. "Tell you what, Hiro. Go grab a plate and I'll split these with you."

"Really?" Hiro's face brightened as he beamed.

"On one condition: you finish our laundry downstairs." Sylar ignored the glare that Ava gave him as she walked into the dining room, carrying her own plate. "Ava's already sorted everything out. All you'll have to do is put the dirty clothes in the washer, and then put the clean wet ones in the dryer. It's really easy."

"Okay!" Hiro turned and walked into the kitchen as Ava sat across from Sylar, glaring at him.

"I can't believe you!" She hissed.

"What? You bribed and then I bribed. You're right, pancakes work like a charm." He grinned as Hiro returned to the dining room with a plate and happily placed half of his stack onto Hiro's plate. "Eat up! Ava's a great cook!"

"Thank you!" Hiro began to eat and turned to Ava, nodding. "WONDERFUL! I have a new favorite food!"

"Great!" Ava turned to Sylar. "Well, now that you've bribed and outsourced YOUR chore for today, just what in the hell do you plan on doing?" Sylar shrugged. "I know what you're doing."

"What?" Sylar asked, his brow furrowing.

"You're going to get groceries with me." Ava nodded.

"WHAAAT?" Sylar slumped in his chair. "Shit."

"We're going grocery shopping?" They looked up as Niki walked into the room with Peter. "Thank God! I made out a list yesterday of some stuff we need. I'll go too."

"We'll go too." Peter winked at her.

"I'm staying here and doing laundry." Hiro smiled through a mouthful of pancakes.

"Something else we need to do." Niki sighed. "Care if we toss our clothes in with your loads?" She asked Ava.

"That's fine." Ava nodded. She turned to Hiro. "Hiro, don't worry about doing our laundry. You go get your dirty clothes after breakfast, tell everyone else to do the same. We'll sort everything out and do everyone's stuff together." She looked around at the table as the others milled into the dining room. "EVERYONE will do a load when we get back from getting groceries."

"Not me, I outsourced. Split up my pancakes and everything." Sylar nodded.

"You too!" Ava glared at him. As Sylar opened his mouth to protest, he yelped as her foot connected with his shin under the table. "And don't you say another word about outsourcing or bribing, you jackass! If you ever want me to make another meal for you again, you'll help us get groceries, you'll help around the house today, and you won't grumble or bitch at all! GOT IT?"

"FINE!" Sylar pouted as he finished his breakfast. "Stupid blueberry pancake bribes."

* * *

April 16, 2000 

Ava entered her hotel room and headed for the bathroom, pulling her clothes off quickly. She stared at the bruises on her face, shaking her head with fury as she remembered Thompson slapping her when she wouldn't respond to him in bed the way he liked. "Bastard." She whispered. She studied the rope burns on her wrists, from being tied to the bed at one point during the night. Finally, she climbed into the shower and turned it on, scrubbing herself almost raw under the hot water, wishing she could scrub away the memory of that night.

After she stepped out of the shower, she dried off and pulled on a clean change of clothes, tossing the dirty ones into her suitcase while making a face, remembering the way that Thompson had pawed at them. "Burn them when I get home." She muttered to herself. "Toss them out." She climbed into bed and closed her eyes, remembering again the stranger she'd run into outside of the hotel The moment she began to think about him, she began to feel herself calm down and forget about the shameful things she'd been subjected to at Thompson's hand. "Bet he wouldn't have treated me the way Thompson did." She whispered to herself. She thought about his kind smile and the gentle way he'd touched her face. "Wish I could be with someone like that." Her bottom lip trembled as she thought about what it would be like to date someone like her kind stranger. "But it could never happen. Thompson wouldn't allow that, not ever. He owns me now, like it or not." She rolled over onto her side, and tried to sleep. After a few hours, she finally dozed, dreaming of a tall man with hands as gentle as his voice and smile, and kind brown eyes, a man who blushed and stammered when she kissed his cheek and waved goodbye to her with one hand while nervously pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose with the other.

* * *

June 3, 2007 

Kane drove through the cities, gritting his teeth in frustration. Primatech Paper had been a dead end. He hoped that maybe, just maybe, if he stayed around Midland and Odessa and canvassed the area, one of them, one of the people he was hunting, would slip up and come around as well. "They'll need supplies sooner or later." He muttered as he drove by one of the supermarkets in Midland. He shook his head. Odessa and Midland were both large cities. Finding any one of the people he was hunting here would be like finding a needle in a haystack. "Dammit!" Kane punched the passenger seat beside him. He had been so close to finding them, so close to destroying them all and thwarting the prophecy that had been foretold to him, and they'd slipped through his fingers. "Shouldn't have played with them in the bar." He muttered. "Could have killed them all there. Should have killed them all there. Then I would have only had to deal with the dark one." His hands gripped the steering wheel angrily.

* * *

"So how are we going to go there?" Sylar asked as he bounded down the stairs after breakfast. "Drive?" 

"Teleport." Kaito looked around as the group assembled. Everyone but Claude, Noah, Kaito and Angela were going to Odessa. "Peter can teleport as well, so you will go in two groups." He looked at everyone sternly. "Get the supplies we're going to need, and return here in two hours, understood?"

Candice sighed and nodded. "No side trips, got it."

"I have to grab something at Lucy's, but other than that, just groceries." Ava shrugged.

"Lucy's?" Sylar turned to her. "The department store? What the hell do you need there?"

"None of your business! GOD!" Ava rolled her eyes. "Which group am I in?"

"Mine." Peter raised his hand as he stood with Niki and Claire. "You too, Gabriel."

"Matt, Ando, Candice and Mohinder are with me." Hiro waved his friends over. He placed a hand on Ando and Matt's shoulders as Matt grabbed Mohinder's arm and Ando took Candice's hand. "We will appear in the alley behind the Safemart, yes?"

"Got it!" Peter grinned as he placed a hand on Claire and Niki's shoulders. Claire took Ava's hand as she took Sylar's. "Everyone ready?"

Moments later, both groups materialized in an alley. Looking around, Sylar smiled. "I'm never NOT going to think that power is cool!"

"So how do we do this? Go in small groups to keep from looking like kids on a field trip, or just bombard the supermarket all at once?" Peter asked.

"Actually," Ava grinned "why don't you guys start in the supermarket while we cross the street to go to Lucy's and we'll catch up with you to finish up the groceries in a few minutes?"

"Works for me." Mohinder nodded.

"Cool!" Sylar laughed. "We'll get the junk food and when you girls come in, you can grab a cart and get the healthy shit!"

"Not too much junk food!" Ava shot him a warning look as she turned to leave the alley with Candice, Niki and Claire. "Get a FEW green things, please!"

"Guacamole! Got it, Babe!" Sylar waved to Ava as she walked away with the girls, shaking her head. "Chips, dips and beer! It's calling MY name!"

"I heard that!" Matt laughed as they exited the alley behind the girls.

* * *

Kane rubbed his temples as he waited for his red light to turn green, trying in vain to come up with a plan to find his quarry. Suddenly, his eyes widened as he spotted a group of women walking past his car, crossing the street. He instantly zeroed in on the red head as she laughed and talked with her three friends. He recognized her immediately, as well as the brunette that giggled as she walked beside them. It was the same brunette he'd attacked in the bar just a few weeks earlier. "Well, don't YOU look like YOU'RE feeling better?" He smiled. "And isn't it just MY lucky day?" He watched the women as they entered a department store and turned in to the parking lot of the supermarket across the street from them. Smirking as he watched them walk inside, he sighed. "Damn, I love it when things go my way." 

"So what did you need in here?" Niki asked as Ava headed into the store.

"Something for the trip." Ava blushed as Niki, Candice and Claire began to giggle.

"Someone wants some sexy lingerie!" Claire teased.

"Please! Like you'll need it!" Candice rolled her eyes. "I've discovered that lingerie isn't worth it. All they say when we wear it is 'nice, take it off'!"

"IS that what you're getting?" Niki raised an eyebrow at Ava as they wound their way through the racks of clothes.

"Yes." Ava sighed. As everyone began giggling again, Ava ducked her head down. "What? He's doing something special for me, taking me on this trip, I thought I'd do something special for him."

"That's what a reach-around is for." Candice laughed. "He'll like that better than some slutty panties."

"What's a reach-around?" Claire frowned.

Ava's eyes widened. "O-KAY Candice! You're explaining to Noah where Claire heard that gem if she every uses it around him now!" She stopped as she spotted a dress on a mannequin, her eyes widening. "Whoa."

Niki smiled. "It's pretty." She leaned forward. "Get it." She whispered in Ava's ear.

"I don't know." Ava shook her head.

"You're going to a luxury hotel for the weekend, odds are you're going to have at least one nice dinner in an elegant restaurant-"

"-If he ever lets her out of the hotel room." Candice smirked.

"Get it, Ava." Claire grinned. "Make his head explode without using your powers."

"You think?" Ava frowned as she turned to her friends. They all nodded in agreement. "I'll try it on first." She dug through the racks until she found the dress in her size and headed towards the dressing room.

"What do you think?" Niki asked Claire and Candice.

"I think he's going to come back from San Antonio grinning so huge, he's going to look like the freakin' joker!" Claire laughed.

* * *

"So, what are you two crazy kids going to do in San Antonio?" Matt asked Sylar in the supermarket. 

"I don't know." Sylar shrugged as he grabbed a bag of pretzels and tossed them into the cart Ando was pushing.

"You going to take her out to dinner? Take her out sight-seeing? Take her anywhere, period?" Matt stared at him, his eyes widening. "Damn!"

"What?" Peter turned as he grabbed a case of beer.

"Shut up!" Sylar growled.

Matt cocked his head to the side. "Seriously? How old are you?"

"Shut up!" Sylar glared at him.

"What is it?" Peter walked over to them.

Matt cut his eyes over at Peter as Sylar looked away. "He's never really been in a serious enough relationship with anyone TO take them away for the weekend."

"You MUST be joking!" Mohinder snorted.

"Go to hell!" Sylar shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to walk past them.

"Come on!" Peter tilted his head down the aisle as he followed Sylar. He turned back to Matt, Ando, Mohinder and Hiro. "You four finish the shopping. I'll talk to Tons of Fun here."

"I don't need anyone to talk to me." Sylar muttered.

"It's no big deal." Peter shrugged as he followed Sylar down the supermarket aisle. "So you've never been serious about anyone. No biggie."

"Really?" Sylar stopped and turned to Peter. "Have YOU ever been in a serious relationship with someone besides Niki? Serious enough to go away with them for the weekend?"

"No." Peter shook his head. "Most girls were only interested in me because of my name and because of my family. I was smart enough to figure it out pretty quickly and leave those girls alone. Before Niki, the only girl I ever really and truly got serious about was in a relationship with a junkie artist, you might remember him, Isaac Mendez?"

"Yeah." Sylar nodded. "You could say that I remember Isaac. You had a thing for his girl, huh?"

"I did." Peter sighed. "And we started to see each other, but-" he looked away.

"What?" Sylar stared at him.

"-She died. Isaac killed her. It was an accident and it was partly my fault too, but she died."

"Sorry." Sylar looked away. "So I guess I'm not the only freak, huh?"

Peter laughed. "You're not a freak, Dude. You're a little weird, but you're not a freak. Bet Ando and Hiro haven't ever taken a girl off for the weekend either."

"Bet they have." Sylar smirked. "So what do I do with Ava in San Antonio?"

"How should I know?" Peter laughed harder as Sylar joined him. "Take her to the Alamo? Take her sight-seeing? Walk along the riverwalk?"

"Figured as much." Sylar nodded. "Maybe a nice dinner-"

"-Dancing." Peter shrugged.

"I don't dance." Sylar frowned. "I'm not kidding. I don't dance."

"Better learn." Peter sighed. "Girls like a guy who can dance. If you want to sweep Ava off of her feet-"

"-WHO says I want to sweep her off of her feet?" Sylar glared at Peter. "I'm just taking her now because I'm going to have to pay for the fucking room regardless. If I had the chance, I'd cancel the whole thing."

"No you wouldn't!" Peter rolled his eyes. "Let me say this slowly so you can understand me, okay? I. Can. Read. Your. Mind. I know how you feel about Ava. Here's a news flash for you. She feels the same way about you. When in the HELL are the two of you going to finally admit it, huh? You two need this weekend away, if anything so maybe you'll finally sit down and tell each other how you really feel."

"I'm not talking about this." Sylar sighed as he turned and headed back to the other guys. "I'd rather get teased by the other guys than continue this discussion."

"Oh come ON!" Peter smirked.

Sylar glanced back over his shoulder. "If you want to talk about feelings, go find Samantha, Charlotte, Carrie and Miranda, okay? I'm sure they'd love to have you join them for coffee and a discussion about babies and impotence and Mr. Big, you big girl!"

Peter snorted. "Oh really? I'M the big girl? Who just knew the names of all of the characters and the plots to the show! If I'm wearing panties, so are you!"

"Fuck you!" Sylar smirked.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you? YOU BIG GIRL!" Peter looked around, realizing that people were staring at him. He smiled self-consciously and headed back towards the guys, ducking his head down as his face turned red.

* * *

He watched as the four women walked out of the department store, the redhead carrying a dress bag along with a smaller one. His eyes narrowed as they crossed the street and entered the supermarket. Smiling, he got out of his car and followed them inside. 

One of the many powers he'd picked up over the years was heightened smell. He liked that power. It made him feel predatory, like an animal stalking prey. He listened for the women's voices, smiling evilly as he heard them laughing and talking to each other. He took a cart and began to throw random items into it, using his vision to see through they aisle he was on to watch them as they walked down the adjoining one. Sniffing the air, he could smell them. He'd only been around the older blond and the redhead for a few moments, but he remembered their scents, as well as the scent of the brunette. He sniffed the air again, smiling as he added the scent of the younger blond to his memory. She smelled like flowers and candy, she smelled like youth. He listened as they talked and laughed with each other.

"So, just how far do you think Sylar's tongue will hang out when he SEES you in that dress?" The brunette asked.

"I don't know!" The redhead shrugged. "Do you really think he's going to go THAT crazy over it? It's just a dress."

"JUST A DRESS?" The older blond stared at her. "Ava, he's going to shit twice and go blind. You're not going to be able to leave the hotel room once you put that thing on. It's not going to be on for very long, trust me."

"I pity the people who are going to be in the hotel room next to you guys." The brunette shook her head. "They're going to wish they'd never decided to visit San Antonio."

"Or at least, they're going to wish they'd never gone to the Crowne Point." The younger blond laughed as she turned to grab salad dressing.

Kane's mouth watered as he realized how close she was to him. He could feel the claws extending from his fingers, as he watched her stretch to grab a bottle from the top shelf. It would be so easy for him to reach out, claw through the shelf and drag her through it into his aisle, he mused. Her death would be quick. He yearned to reach out and slash and tear, taking whatever extraordinary power she possessed for his own.

Ava stopped and began to look around, her eyes widening. Kane smiled as he watched her, his attention drawn from the tiny blond. Candice stared at her. "Ava?"

Ava lifted her hand as she looked around the aisle. "He's here."

"What?" Niki stared at her.

Ava turned to Niki. "You armed?"

Niki nodded slowly. "Yeah. OWI's first rule: never leave the house unarmed." She looked around. "Who's here, Ava?"

"Him. Kane." Ava nodded. "I can feel him, his desire." She glanced over at Claire. "He wanted to kill you, he's watching us. He wanted to kill you so very much." She began to scan the aisle as Niki and Candice stared up at the ceiling. Ava reached out and slapped at Candice's hand as it crept up her chest to grasp the alert necklace around her neck. "Don't!" She hissed. "It'll call the OWI S.W.A.T. team."

"That's what we want, isn't it?" Candice's eyes were wide with terror. "He's here, he's HERE, Ava!"

"I KNOW that!" Ava looked around again. "He's not going to start anything here. It's a supermarket, it's a public place, too public for his tastes." She took a deep breath. "He's not that stupid."

Kane smiled as he nodded his head. She was right, he knew she was right. He'd seen enough and he had quite a lot of information. He watched as Ava nodded to Niki softly and began to creep down the aisle, leaving Claire and Candice standing together by the shopping cart. He quickly turned into mist and floated away towards the door as Ava and Niki quickly ducked down his aisle.

A hand clamped down on Ava and Niki's shoulders. They both shrieked and turned, preparing to attack their assailant. Matt yelped and backed away, holding his hands up. "WHOA! What's going on? We saw you two getting all stealthy and-"

"-Kane was here." Ava closed her eyes as she tried to control her breathing. "You're fucking lucky I didn't just blow you to pieces, Matt!"

"KANE?" Matt looked around, his eyes widening. "THE Kane?"

"No, Bob Kane, creator of Batman!" Ava rolled her eyes as she and Niki both headed back to Claire and Candice. "Yes Matt, THE Kane!"

"He's in here? In the store?" Mohinder gasped as they followed Ava and Niki.

"He was." Ava looked around as Niki looked up at the ceiling again. "I don't think he is anymore." She nodded to Candice and Claire. "Let's get the rest of the stuff on our list and haul ass before he comes back."

Candice cringed beside Mohinder, closing her eyes. "What if he's waiting outside for us?"

Ava shrugged, her lips tightening into a thin line. "Then we'll fight like hell, won't we? Come on." She turned to Matt as they quickly began to move up and down the aisles, adding items to the cart as fast as they could. "Where are the others?"

"Over in the frozen foods." Matt looked over at Ava before he stared up at the ceiling. "Some lady who knows Sylar is chatting him up. She remembers him from his 'Aaron' days, apparently."

"Okay." Ava nodded. She smiled with relief as they turned a corner and spotted Sylar with Peter, Ando and Hiro. Sylar was talking to Becca Rosen, one of the shopkeepers at Mabel's, where Sylar would sell the clocks and watches he'd fix.

Becca turned to Ava. "Lexie!" She hugged Ava. "Aaron told me you were here shopping with friends." She studied the group behind Ava before turning back to her friend. "I was just asking Aaron when he was going to stop back by Mabel's. We've got a beautiful old clock that Miss Mabel herself found at an estate sale in Tulsa. She thinks that if Aaron gets it running again, she could get quite a good price for it."

"I told her that we had a few other irons in the fire right now, Lex." Sylar smiled tightly. "But I also told her that as soon as our schedule cleared up a bit, I'd give her a call."

"And I'll be waiting for that call!" Becca glanced at her watch. "Lord, look at the time! I've got to meet some of the girls for after-church brunch in a while." She turned back to her cart, waving her fingers at Sylar and Ava. "Toodle-loo you two!"

"Toodle-loo!" Sylar beamed as Becca walked away. He turned to Ava. "That was interesting." He frowned at the worried expression on Ava's face. "What's going on?"

"We've got to pay for our stuff and get the hell out of here, that's what's going on." Ava glanced at the full cart that Hiro and Ando were pushing. "Just how much beer and chips did you chuckleheads get?"

* * *

He was crouched on the roof of the supermarket, using his vision to see through the ceiling and supports of the building to watch Hiro and his friends reunite in the frozen foods section. Smirking, his eyes narrowed as the dark man wrapped an arm around the redhead's waist. She was talking quickly, her eyes darting around as the man seemed to get more and more worried. She was obviously telling him about almost meeting HIM. Kane smiled. He knew her name now, it was Ava. He also knew the man with the dark soul, the one who was destined to kill him was named Sylar. 

His eyes spotted the other woman, the older one that Sylar had been talking to. He smiled as he watched her approach another group of people to talk to them as Sylar, Hiro, Ava and the others went to check out their purchases. He watched closely as they paid for everything and headed towards the parking lot before suddenly changing direction and moved towards the alley behind the market. His mouth watering at the idea of attacking them all now, he quickly ran across the roof to the other side of the building.

"So we're STEALING the carts?" Hiro asked as he and Ando pushed them towards the alley. Ava and Matt covered the group from the back as Niki and Matt covered the front of the group, their guns pulled from the holsters strapped to their ankles.

"We'll return them to the parking lot late tonight, but we need to keep our hands free for now." Ava nodded. "It's okay, Hiro."

Kane prepared to pounce on them, ready to attack when he heard a helicopter flying over. Cursing, he turned into mist to keep from being seen. Moments after the helicopter passed over, he re-materialized and cursed to see the group suddenly blink out of sight. "FUCK!" He stomped back towards the front of the building and stopped, smiling to see the woman that Sylar had been talking to earlier heading towards her car. He turned into a mist again, flying behind her as she loaded her groceries into her trunk. She climbed into her car, not noticing the mist that seeped into her car through the air vents and drove away. Thirty minutes later, as she pulled into the garage at her home, she gasped as clawed fingers grasped her throat.

"Hello." She heard a soft British accent purr in her ear. "That man you were talking to in the supermarket, with his red-haired girl? You're going to tell me EVERYTHING you know about them."

* * *

Noah, Claude, Kaito and Angela looked up as the group reappeared in the living room. Noah frowned at the shopping carts. "And when did we add stealing to our list of morally grey acts we perform?" 

"DAD!" Claire ran to her father and threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly.

Noah hugged his daughter back as he stared at the rest of the group. "What the hell happened?"


	20. Chapter 20: Melissa McCain

Chapter Twenty: Melissa McCain

June 3, 2007

Noah paced the living room as the rest of the group, with the exception of Kaito, Angela and Claude, sat around him, waiting for him to speak. After they'd told him about Ava sensing Kane in the supermarket, he'd quickly stepped away with Angela, Kaito and Claude, the four of them conferring together away from the others for a few hours. After their conference, Angela, Kaito and Claude left the farmhouse, driving towards town as Noah called the rest of the group into the living room. He finally stopped pacing and turned to Ava and Sylar. "Is there any way that Kane can trace us here?"

"I don't think so." Ava shook her head.

"Wait." Matt turned to her. "Who was that woman you and Sylar were talking to after Kane left?"

"Becca Rosen?" Ava closed her eyes. "Shit. She knows us."

"Does she know where you live?" Noah asked.

"No." Ava shook her head. She turned to Sylar. "You've never told her, right?"

"Nope." Sylar looked over at Noah. "No one at Mabel's store knows our address. They have our phone number though."

"That's unlisted." Noah sighed. "But she knows you as Aaron and Alexandra Abbott, yes?" Both of them nodded. "This house luckily isn't in your names, and neither is the car." He frowned. "But the phone number could be traced if Kane found someone from the phone company or the police department to persuade." He looked at the group sternly. "We're leaving the farmhouse next week."

"Where are we going?" Ava asked.

"Classified." Noah turned to Matt and Peter. "Now, I know the two of YOU probably already know, since you can read my mind." Matt and Peter frowned and nodded. "You will NOT discuss where we're going with ANYONE do you understand?"

"Sure." Matt sighed.

"Not a problem." Peter nodded.

Noah turned to Sylar. "You. Were you eavesdropping?"

Sylar smirked and nodded. "Yeah. I was."

"You will not discuss where we're going either then, got it?" Noah glared as Sylar sighed and nodded.

"Got it."

"We're leaving next week?" Claire asked.

"Sooner, if we have to." Noah pulled out his phone and called Primatech. "Look up an address for Rebecca Rosen of Midland. Send some people to her house and make sure that she's okay. Also, we're going to need a perimeter set up around the farmhouse. I want black ops watching the roads, if anyone shows up within a mile of this place, we need to know about it, got it?" He hung up the phone and turned to everyone. "We're still going to train this week, but we also need to pack for the move. Angela, Kaito and Claude are getting supplies now for the trip. We're teleporting next Monday morning, but we're going to ship whatever we can now. Anything you want waiting for you when we get there, pack it up and have it ready by tomorrow to be shipped. Any questions?" Everyone shook their heads. "Okay. Get going. I'm going to pack the body armor and helmets, we're also going to need to pack the medical supplies, the anti-venin will stay here. We have to remember to take it with us when we go. Peter, pack up the intubation kits and the intubation dummy you ordered. All of that will go tomorrow."

Mohinder raised his hand. "I know it's completely off-topic, but I think I've found a way to help anyone who ends up on the receiving end of Kane's venom. I've been researching it."

"Let's have it." Noah nodded, his hands on his hips.

"The anti-venin will help counteract the mamba poison, but the pufferfish poison doesn't have a cure. It has to be metabolized from the body-"

"-While paralyzing the heart and lungs." Peter turned to him.

"Exactly." Mohinder smiled. "Bypass."

"What?" Noah stared at him.

Peter grinned. "Put the patient in a medically induced coma and put them on a heart-lung bypass machine until the venom's been metabolized!"

"It'll keep the patient's blood oxygenated and prevent death. Once the venom has been metabolized and is out of the patient's system, take them off bypass, defibrillate the heart and wake them up." Mohinder sighed. "Hopefully, it'll work."

"Hopefully." Noah nodded. "I'll discuss it with Kaito and Angela. Maybe they'll find a way to get a bypass machine."

"Is there a medical facility where we're going?" Ava asked.

"A very good one." Noah smiled. "We're having a couple of the best doctors on Primatech's payroll heading there as we speak."

"Okay then." Ava stood up. "Let's go pack."

"Pack warmly." Sylar whispered to her. "Trust me on this."

"SYLAR!" Noah's voice was edged with a warning as Sylar smirked and followed Ava upstairs.

* * *

December 12, 2001

Ava frowned as she strolled through the mall, elbowing her way through the crowds. She hated Christmas shopping, not that she had too many people to shop for. There were only two people on her list, one officially. As she fought her way past other shoppers, she found herself wondering if Noah wouldn't mind a gift certificate. She knew he wasn't expecting a gift at all, but she'd always found a way to get something for him, even as he protested every year that he didn't need a present. It made her happy to buy something for him. He was one of two people in the world she considered a friend. She wouldn't feel right unless she gave him something, even if it was just a silly tie.

Ava leaned against a wall, wishing she could push out with her power and shove people aside to make a path. As she turned, she noticed an item in a window of the store she was beside. Her brow furrowing, she walked inside and picked the item up, a slow smile spreading across her face.

"It's been a godsend!" A woman next to her hissed. "Put one of those up in each room of my house and I turn them on whenever I have to leave town. I've been through three babysitters since I got that! You wouldn't believe what crap people pull when they don't realize they're being filmed!"

Ava turned the box over in her hands. "And no one saw the cameras?"

"No one noticed at all." The woman patted the box. "They're wireless and so tiny, you could put them anywhere. There's even some way you can hook them up to your computer, but I haven't the foggiest on how to do that. I just send the video to a receiver which records them onto my VCR."

"I'll be damned." Ava mused.

"You have kids?"

Ava shook her head. "No." She glanced over at the woman. "But my sister does. She has to leave her kids with a nanny a lot."

"Then you should definitely get this for her. It'll give her peace of mind to know that she knows what her nanny's up to when she's not around."

"You're right." Ava smiled softly. "Peace of mind." She turned and headed for the cash register, the box tucked under her arm. "Gotcha, you son of a bitch." She whispered to herself.

* * *

June 3, 2007

Ava ran down the stairs, frowning at Angela. "You bellowed?"

Angela smirked as she handed Ava a bag. "Take care of this now."

Ava glanced in the bag, and made a face. "Oh, you've GOT to be kidding me!"

"Oh, I can assure you, I am NOT kidding!" Angela sniffed. "You and Sylar are still allowed to go to San Antonio next weekend. God knows you two are going to use a vacation in a warm climate before we move. If you still want to go, you'll use that."

Ava pulled a box of haircolor out of the bag. "Dark brown?"

"You've been a brunette before." Angela smirked as Ava glanced nervously up the stairs. "What?"

"Nothing." Ava sighed. "But dark brown?"

Angela sighed. "If you want to go away next weekend, you'll color your hair. You can go back to the red when we move. There's a box in there for you to do that as well. Until then, that bright red hair is quite the beacon. I wouldn't be surprised if that's how Kane found you today. It's a very distinct shade and it brings attention, whether you want it to or not. Dye it."

"Fine." Ava took the bag and headed back up the stairs.

* * *

Kane walked around Becca Rosen's home, frustrated. She lay on the floor in the living room, whimpering. She couldn't tell him much, only the names that Sylar and Ava had used around her, Aaron and Alexandra Abbott. He'd searched the phone book and searched online and had come up with nothing on the two of them. Furious, Kane strolled back into the living room. Becca cringed as he knelt in front of her. "Do you have their phone number?" He hissed.

"No. Not here." Becca moaned. "I think it's at Mabel's, but-" She gasped as Kane reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Mabel's? That's the store where you work?" Becca nodded. "Do you have a key to the store?"

"It's in my purse." Becca pointed to the purse that lay on the floor near the front door.

"Thank you." With a fluid movement, he lashed out with his claws, slicing open her jugular vein and carotid artery. The woman gurgled as she bled to death on the floor. Kane strolled over to Becca's purse and took her keys. Digging through her wallet, he found a business card with the address to Mabel's store. "Thank you very much."

He walked out of Becca's home and climbed into her car. He pulled out of the driveway moments before Primatech black ops arrived, disguised as exterminators. They knocked on the door before testing it to see if it was open. Stepping inside, the agents frowned to see Becca's body.

* * *

Noah answered his phone. "Bennet." He closed his eyes. "Thank you." He turned to Angela, Kaito and Claude. "Becca Rosen's body has been found. She was still warm and the blood around her hadn't clotted yet. They'd probably missed Kane by a few minutes at the most."

Angela frowned. "That's not good."

"He's still out there." Kaito whispered.

"It's only a matter of time before he shows up here." Claude muttered. "You think we've got a week before he finds us?"

Noah shook his head. "I don't know. I hope so." He turned back to Angela. "You got the clothes and supplies we're going to need?"

Angela nodded. "It's all been sent to Primatech to be boxed and shipped tomorrow morning. Everything will be waiting for us next Monday when we arrive at the facility."

"Good." Noah sighed. "Let's hope Kane can't find a way to track down 'Aaron' and 'Alexandra' before then." He shivered. "I'd like to stick around here as long as we can before we have to head up there."

"Tell me about it!" Claude nodded. "I hate the cold!"

* * *

December 12, 2001

Ava strolled out of the mall with bags and a huge smile on her face. She fished the phone that Claude gave her out of her purse and dialed the number programmed into it. "Guess what I just did?"

Claude sat in the basement of the new building he'd 'moved' into. "God only knows with you, Puss."

"I've found a way to stick it to Him but good."

"Good for you. When will you be able to do that?"

Ava frowned. "Not for a while yet. He's still got me meeting him in hotels for now. He thinks Linderman's people are still watching him. He's probably right."

"Well, when he finally slips up, make sure you catch him."

"Oh, I will." Ava glanced down at the bags. "Listen, did you do that thing I asked you to do?"

"Yes." Claude sighed. "I got a bloody P.O. box. It's box 777, in Manhattan." He gave her the rest of the address. "It's bloody chaos around here still."

"Well, it's only been three months." Ava leaned against her car. "I swear to God, when I saw those planes hit the towers-"

"-I know." Claude smiled. "I was hiding out in Queens while that went down. I moved back here to Manhattan a week ago."

"Like the nomad you are." Ava smiled softly. "So what name did you put the box under?"

"Whenever you have to send me something, just address it to B. Lugosi."

Ava snorted. "Cute, Claude. Very cute." She cursed as another phone rang in her purse. "Shit."

"Thompson?"

"Yeah." Ava sighed. "He gave me a disposable phone too. That's what he calls me on."

"Bastard, stealing my ideas." Claude cursed. "Take care."

"I will. Love you."

"Love you too, Luv."

Ava turned off Claude's phone and dug the other out of her purse. "Three phones." She mused. "Hope no one ever asks me to explain it." She answered the phone. "Yes?"

"Where are you?" Thompson's voice was tense.

"Just Christmas shopping." Ava sighed as she placed the bags in her trunk.

"Cute. I bet that was a short trip. Get anything for me?"

"A stocking with coal?" Ava smirked. "What do you want?"

"I'm at the Fireside Hotel. Room 12."

"Great." Ava rolled her eyes. "I'm on the way." Shuddering, she hung up the phone and got into her car. "Fucking asshole." She muttered as she started up her car and pulled out of the mall.

* * *

June 3, 2007

Sylar knocked on the bathroom door, frowning as he tested it. "Why's the door locked?"

"What do you want?" Ava's voice was tense.

"Well, nature's calling for one thing, and I was wondering what was going on in there for another."

"There are other bathrooms in the house and none of your damn business!"

"FINE!" Sylar glared at the door. "You know, if I wanted to, I could just melt this door."

"And I could just kick your ass when you do it!" Ava's voice was sharp.

Sylar rolled his eyes. "Have you finished packing?"

"YES! I packed warm clothes like you suggested and sent everything downstairs already."

"Okay." Sylar rolled his eyes as he grabbed the suitcases he'd finished packing and carried them down to the living room. He glanced over at Noah. "All packed!" He stared up at the ceiling. "Ava's doing something upstairs. She's kind of twitchy about it, all locked in the bathroom."

Noah nodded. "Angela's making her dye her hair until we move. She thinks the red stands out too much."

"DYE HER HAIR?" Sylar made a face. "Yet another reason to hate Kane and dislike Angela a bit." He sighed. "She's not going blond, is she? There are too many blonds in the house as it is."

"Nope. She's going brunette. Dark brown if I heard Angela correctly."

Sylar rolled his eyes. "Great, another brunette in the house as well. Lovely." He turned and headed back up the stairs. "I prefer the red." He muttered.

* * *

December 12, 2001

Ava sighed with relief as Thompson rolled off of her. "Great. That was wonderful. You are truly the best." She muttered, her voice monotone.

Thompson snorted as he caught his breath. "Back at'cha Babe." He stared at the ceiling, smiling. "Your smart ass mouth aside, I certainly enjoyed it."

"I could tell." Ava looked around the hotel room, her nose crinkling with disgust. "When are you going to stop summoning me to hotel rooms, anyway?"

Thompson turned to her. "Inviting me back to your home?"

Ava shrugged. "I hate seedy hotel rooms, that's all. They're gross, disgusting and-" she rolled her eyes as the sound of a headboard slamming against the wall next door began to reverberate in their room. "-people look at me like I'm a whore whenever I leave these places. I hate it."

Thompson nodded. "I think Linderman should call off the dogs before long. I've been a good boy, as far as he knows, been keeping my nose clean and behaving."

"As far as he knows." Ava turned to him. "Can I go now?"

Thompson rolled his eyes. "Got a hot date?"

"And if said yes?"

Thompson's hand shot out quickly, grasping Ava's face, his fingers digging into her cheeks. "I'd kill you slowly. You belong to me, got it? You don't date, you don't go out, you don't do anything without my say-so."

"Got it." Ava slapped his hand away. "I'm just sick of lying in this nasty-ass room, okay?"

"Fine." Thompson leered at her as she climbed out of the bed and pulled her clothes on. "You're right about the room. We need something with a decent headboard, in case I feel like tying you up again."

Ava rolled her eyes as she grabbed her purse. "See you at work." She muttered, stomping out of the room.

* * *

June 3, 2007

Sylar sat at the dinner table with the rest of the group, eating silently. He glanced up at the ceiling, then shrugged. "How long does it take to dye your hair, anyway?"

Noah looked over at him nervously and shook his head. Matt and Peter both lifted their heads, their eyes widening as they caught Noah's thoughts. He looked over at them, catching their expressions and sighed, setting his fork down. "Before you see her with the dark hair, there's something you should know, Sylar."

"What?" Sylar frowned.

Noah cleared his throat. "Remember Eden McCain?"

Sylar nodded, avoiding the glare that Mohinder gave him. "Yeah, I remember her."

Angela frowned. "What?"

Noah glanced over at Angela. "Around the same time that Claire first manifested, I was contacted by Chandra Suresh. Her name was on his list. I sent Eden McCain to New York to move in across the hall from Chandra to have her remove Claire's name from the list."

Mohinder frowned. "So you KNEW Eden before you killed her?"

Sylar shrugged. "I didn't technically kill her, she killed herself."

"And WHY did she kill herself?" Noah glared at him.

Sylar rolled his eyes. "To keep ME from killing her and taking her power." He looked around the table. "But in my defense, she was trying to get me to kill myself at the time." He sighed. "Anyway, yes Mohinder, I met Eden a few times before I killed her. She lived across the hall from Chan-" he caught Mohinder's angry glare "-your father and I ran into her a few times. I didn't really know her very well, but her sister was nice."

"Sister?" Mohinder stared at him, confused. "Eden didn't have a sister."

"Yes she did." Sylar nodded. "Melissa. She helped Eden move in. She worked at an art gallery for a month or two before she moved to Spain." Sylar smiled. "I actually knew Melissa better than Eden. We'd run into each other a lot when she'd visit her sister every week. She was really sweet and pretty." As he talked, Mohinder's eyes widened and he began to grin.

"Wait for it." Matt whispered.

"Pretty?" Peter asked, grinning.

"Yeah. She was a little taller than Eden, with long dark brown hair and the prettiest hazel-" Sylar's voice trailed off as his eyes widened.

"And he finally connects the dots!" Matt snorted.

Niki gasped. "No way!"

Peter smirked. "I was wondering when you'd recognize her. I recognized her as Melissa the first time I met her here in Odessa."

Sylar turned to him. "You knew her in New York?"

Peter nodded. "As her cover, she worked with Simone Deveaux. Simone and Ava were friends. I'd see her when she'd visit Simone and Charles."

"She knew Charles pretty well, too." Claude nodded.

Noah sighed. "For the first couple of months she was in New York, Eden needed a handler who could be in town to help out and answer any questions she had. She needed someone to report to face-to-face. I couldn't do it, because Chandra knew me. I asked Ava to go in my place. I also needed someone I could trust not to tell Thompson what I was doing. I knew Ava didn't like Thompson, though at the time I didn't realize why. She jumped at the chance to get away from him. He'd been promoted to the office in Austin and wasn't there every day anymore, but he was still apparently visiting her apartment at night. He had a pretty tight grip on her."

Sylar nodded. "So she went to New York to help Eden and met me." He whispered. "Were she and Eden close? They seemed close when I saw them. They seemed like sisters."

Noah shrugged. "She liked Eden well enough, took her under her wing somewhat. She saw a lot of herself in Eden, I think. Both of them manifested as teens under disastrous circumstances, both of them had no family to turn to. I think Ava saw Eden as the road not traveled-"

"-There but for the grace of God." Everyone turned to see Ava standing in the doorway, her red hair now dyed a dark chestnut brown. She nodded. "Yeah, you've got it right, Noah. I saw Eden as what I would have probably become without your guidance, so I took her under my wing for those couple of months I was in New York."

Sylar's eyes widened as he studied Ava. "Hello Melissa."

Ava smiled softly. "Hi Gabriel." She sat down at the table and began to eat as Sylar stared at her. Matt began to grin as he finished his meal.

"So, you two met in New York huh?" Matt nodded. "Funny how this company works, isn't it?"

"Tell me about it." Sylar murmured in amazement. He looked away from Ava. "Bet you wanted to kill me when you realized who I was and that I'd killed Eden."

"Somewhat." Ava shrugged. "I blamed myself for it, basically. I thought I'd helped train her better than to go into an SG's cell without backup." She turned to Sylar. "I didn't realized exactly who you were though until I returned from Spain after the events in Kirby Plaza."

"I see." Sylar nodded. "So when you walked into that hospital room-"

"-I knew I was claiming not just Sylar the killer, but also Gabriel Gray as my 'husband' and assignment. I knew I was claiming the man that had been visiting Chandra Suresh."

"The man you talked to whenever you passed him in the hall." Sylar whispered.

"Yeah."

* * *

December 12, 2001

Ava entered her apartment, carrying the bags with her. As soon as she closed the door, she opened one of the bags, pulling out an item she'd bought earlier that day. Smirking, she opened it and pulled out the tiny cameras. Studying them, she realized they would be perfect for what she wanted. They were practically undetectable. After reading the instructions, she began to place them around her apartment, mainly concentrating on her bedroom and the living room. When she'd finished, she sat back and smiled to herself. "Please decide to start banging me in my own place soon, you piece of shit." She whispered.

* * *

June 3, 2007

Sylar looked up from the bed as Ava entered the room. "It's going to take me a while to get used to that brown hair."

Ava smiled at him for a moment as she pulled off her clothes and climbed into bed. "Goodnight."

"Wait." Sylar rolled over, facing her as she slid under the covers. "Why didn't you tell me about being Melissa before?"

Ava shrugged, her back to him. "I don't know. It never came up before now."

"It never came up that, for a couple of months, I saw you every week, that we talked every week?" Sylar stared at her. "I had a crush on you as Melissa, Ava."

"Really?" Ava smirked. "I would have figured that you would be too busy hunting down people to fulfill your evolutionary imperative to worry with something as mundane as a crush."

"You KNOW I had a thing for you." Sylar rolled over onto his back, staring at the ceiling. "I followed you." Ava rolled over to stare at him, frowning as Sylar continued to talk. "I know it was stupid, but I followed you around sometimes. I'd watch you walk through the park, I watched you go into the art gallery where you worked." He turned his head to look at her. "I was almost as interested in you as I was in getting other powers. I remember, a week before you left for Spain, I saw you arguing with someone in the park. He was older, with graying hair."

"Thompson." Ava frowned. "He showed up in New York. We fought. I blackmailed him."

"So that was Thompson." He stared at her. "You blackmailed him?"

"Yeah." Ava raised an eyebrow. "A few years ago, I'd had enough of lying on my back for Thompson, of being under his thumb, so I bought some nanny cams and put them in my apartment. A year later, he started coming to my apartment again, after he knew that Linderman wasn't following him anymore."

"Linderman was following him?"

Ava nodded. "He suspected that there was something going on with us. He told Thompson that he was going to have him followed and if he got any evidence on him-" She drew her finger across her throat. "It just made him more stealthy when it came to sleeping with me. He had some pretty big dirt on me, something that he held over my head-"

"-That thing you mentioned once before, that you killed the wrong person and talked to another wrong person."

"Yeah." Ava sighed. "Anyway, I videotaped quite a few trysts with Thompson. I knew that the videos alone wouldn't be enough though, so I upgraded the cameras to get audio as well as visual. I got Thompson admitting that he set up Claude and had doctored evidence against Bennet. I also got him to admit that he was basically raping me, and if I ever told anyone, he'd kill Bennet's family and do to Claire what he was doing to me. I guess the fight you saw in the park was when I lowered the boom on Thompson. He showed up in New York, spoiling for a fight and wanting me to return to Texas and return to him. I refused. When he tried to hold Noah and his family over my head, I told him about the videos. I had them in a safe place, with orders to have them sent to Linderman and Kaito if anything ever happened to me. He backed down. I realized though that he would just try to find another way to get to me, so I decided to take an extended vacation to Spain. I left the next week."

"The day after I asked you out." Sylar whispered. Ava nodded. "I thought you were just letting me down easily until Eden confirmed the next day that you really had gone to Spain."

Ava smiled. "If it hadn't been for Thompson breathing down my neck and threatening to destroy me and anyone else I dated, I would have gone out with you."

"Really?" Sylar's eyes widened.

"Uh yeah, really." Ava laughed softly. "I told you I liked nerdy boys. The glasses and sweater vests kind of got to me."

"I wondered about that." Sylar smirked as Ava giggled softly. "Remember the night Eden moved in?"

"And she convinced me to go out bar-hopping with her?" Ava's eyes narrowed. "You were already following me THEN, weren't you?"

"No, I wasn't." Sylar shook his head. "I had spent most of the day at Chandra's, being tested, getting names from the list. I honestly really did just happen to run into you when you were coming back to Eden's." He laughed. "More like when YOU were crawling back to Eden's. You were pretty drunk."

"I know." Ava smiled. "You carried me upstairs."

"You mauled me."

"I told you the sweater vests and glasses turned me on!" Ava cocked her head to the side. "And you were a gentleman."

"Like I was going to sleep with a drunk woman on her sister's couch." Sylar sighed. "Excuse me, fake sister's couch." Sylar sighed. "Fucking Thompson."

"What?" Ava frowned.

"If it wasn't for him, you would have gone out with me."

"Yeah." Ava nodded. "And then you would have eventually figured out I had a power, you would have tried to take it, and I would have blown your brains out."

"Probably." Sylar mused. "So, you really DIDN'T want me dead after Eden died?"

Ava shook her head. "Like I said, I blamed myself and Noah more for not training her better. She went off the reservation with you. She fucked up and paid for it with her life."

"But when you showed up in that hospital room, you knew exactly who I was by then."

"Yes, I did." Ava smiled softly. "I tried not to think about you being Sylar, the guy who had hunted down and killed so many people, and had tried to kill Claire. I tried to think of you as the sweet, shy guy that kept coming out of Chandra's apartment whenever I happened to visit Eden. It wasn't a hard thing to do. You didn't remember being Sylar. You acted more like the guy I knew in New York, than the notorious bad-ass that everyone else knew."

"Notorious bad-ass?" Sylar grinned. "Cool."

"Not as bad-ass as I am though."

"True." Sylar nodded. "I am man enough to admit that you're a bit more bad-ass than I am, so far."

"SO FAR?" Ava propped up on her elbow.

"Hey, I'm training to fight, Honey. Give me a few weeks and I'll be able to kick even YOUR ass!"

"I'll believe that when I see it." Ava lay back down. She smiled as Sylar scooted closer to her. "What?"

Sylar shrugged. "We're going to be really tired tomorrow night."

"Yeah? And?" Ava raised an eyebrow. "Are you asking for what I think you're asking for?"

"Man can't live by evolutionary imperative alone." Sylar leaned forward and kissed her, pulling her close to him as he rolled back, pulling her on top of him as he moved.


	21. Chapter 21: Vacations

Chapter Twenty-One: Vacations

June 8, 2007

Kane smiled to himself as he studied the address printed on the paper in his hand. He had them. It had taken most of the week, but after he'd gotten "Aaron Abbott's" phone number from Mabel's store, he knew it was only a matter of time before he'd be able to trace the number to an address. All he had to do was wait until he could get a police officer alone long enough to persuade him to find the address by tracing the phone number. He studied a map, finding the address on it. It was out in the country, fifteen miles out of Odessa and Midland. It appeared to be secluded, with one small road leading to the house. There were other houses on the road, but nothing within a half-mile or so of the house. "Is this where the two of you are living still?" He asked. "Is this where all of you have hunkered down to get ready for me? I'm certainly ready for all of you." He started his car and pulled out of the parking lot of the police station, the office he'd persuaded still standing in the parking lot, a dazed expression on his face. "Let's go pay my 'friends' a visit." He whispered to himself as he pulled onto the highway and headed out of Odessa.

Sylar frowned as Ava bounced down the stairs, toting only a dress bag and the largest duffel bag he'd ever seen. "That's it?" He stared at the bag as she set it down.

"Yeah, why?" Ava cocked her head to the side.

Sylar shrugged. "I figured you'd end up packing half of the house, that's all."

"It's just a weekend away. I've got makeup, travel-size bottles of toiletries, two changes of regular clothes for just hanging out or strolling through the town, a change of dressier clothes in case we go somewhere nice, a hair dryer, curling iron, three pairs of shoes and underwear." She shrugged and held up her dress bag. "And this. It's all I need."

"What's that?" Sylar nodded to the bag. His eyebrows raised as Ava grinned and walked away, not saying a word. He stared down at his own bag and shrugged. "Someone who packs light. I like it." He leaned down to pick up the bag and groaned. "What the hell?"

"What?" Ava glanced over at him as he stared at the bag.

"Are you SURE that's all you've got in there? It feels like you've got a set of dumb bells in there, too."

Ava shrugged and looked away. "Oh, I also packed an emergency kit. I never leave home without it."

"And what's in this emergency kit?" Sylar frowned as he carried the bag towards the door.

"A little of this, a little of that." Ava smiled as Niki bounced down the stairs with an armload of bags that she toted with ease. "Whoa! Where are you off to?"

"See, THAT'S how I figured you'd pack!" Sylar grimaced as he tested the weight of Ava's bag again. "Then again, I think you did pack that much, you just jammed it into one huge bag. You guys at The OWI have invented technology to create a Mary Poppins-type bag, right? I'm going to open this thing and a house is popping out if it, isn't it?"

"NO!" Ava rolled her eyes as she turned back to Niki. "So what's up?"

Niki grinned as Peter, Angela, Candice and Mohinder followed her down the stairs carrying bags. "Peter's taking us to visit Nathan and his family in New York for the weekend. We're going to the Petrelli house in the Hamptons."

"Why am I not surprised that the Petrellis have a house in the Hamptons?" Sylar rolled his eyes.

Ava ignored Sylar as she smiled. "Sounds nice. She quickly hugged everyone. "Have fun."

"I hope we do." Niki sighed. "We're teleporting there, then Peter's going to teleport to wherever the hell The Haitian has Micah and Molly to stay with us too."

"Sounds like a fun family weekend. I hope you enjoy yourselves."

"We will." Niki smiled as Peter walked over to the group.

"Ready to go?" Everyone nodded as Peter winked at Ava. "Have fun in San Antonio."

"Yeah, right." Sylar muttered. "We might, it feels like Ava packed an amusement park in here."

"You wish." Ava waved as the group disappeared in front of her. Moments later, Matt headed down the stairs with Hiro, Ando, Kaito, Noah and a Mac-toting Claire. "You all going off somewhere too?"

Matt nodded. "Hiro's teleporting us to visit our families." He smiled excitedly. "Jan's due soon, so I thought I'd visit and rub her feet, make sure that she's doing okay."

Noah grinned. "We figured since the two of you were heading out for the weekend, the rest of us would do the same. I'd like to catch up with Sandra and Lyle and Claire thought that Mac could spend some quality time with his father, Mr. Muggles." He nodded to Hiro. "Hiro, Kaito and Ando wanted to spend some time on the beach."

"So the families are hidden away on a beach somewhere huh?" Sylar nodded appreciatively. "Sounds nice."

"A little vacation in a warm setting before we head off to train at the other location." Noah sighed as he turned to Claire. "Ready?" She nodded as he turned back to Ava. "We're all going to keep in touch with satellite phones. There's one in Claude's bag. If you all get into trouble, he knows to call right away."

"Claude?" Sylar frowned as Noah grinned wickedly at him just before his group teleported out of the house. He turned to Ava as Claude walked down the stairs, lugging a duffel bag identical to Ava's. "CLAUDE'S coming? WITH US?"

"Bloody right I am!" Claude grinned. "The organization decided that you two needed a seasoned agent to make sure to cover Ava's back around you. They got me a suite right across the hall from yours. Here, catch!" He tossed his bag to Sylar, snorting as the man fell over under the weight of his and Ava's bags.

Sylar groaned under the bags. "Let me guess. Emergency kit?"

"Yep!" Claude nodded as he turned to Ava. "You packed one as well, I gather?"

"Of course!" Ava reached down to help Sylar up. "I never leave home without one."

"That's IT!" Sylar knelt down in front of Ava's bag and opened it. The side pockets contained her makeup, toiletries, curling iron and compact hair dryer. Inside of the bag itself were her clothes and shoes. Sylar frowned as he saw a large case underneath them. Pulling out the case, he opened it, his eyes widening as he noticed the array of tasers, knives, rope, carabiners, C4, detonators, tranquilizer gun, and two handguns with ammunition clips. "Holy SHIT!" As he closed the case and placed it back in the bag, he noticed something else at the bottom of the bag. "A sawed-off shotgun?"

"Yeah, and?" Ava rolled her eyes.

"Just what kind of emergency are you preparing for?"

"With you?" Claude smirked. "I don't think we packed enough, actually." He sighed and grabbed up his own bag as Sylar quickly repacked Ava's bag while he gave her horrified glances. "Be careful with that C4, you'll blow us to San Antonio if you handle it wrong."

Sylar shuddered as he zipped up Ava's bag and gingerly picked it up. "I'm going away for the weekend with Jane and James Bond." He muttered as he carried her things out to the car.

Claude glanced over at Ava. "Those guns in that case aren't your only ones, are they?" Ava smiled as she opened her blazer, showing the holstered gun under her arm, then lifted her pants leg, showing another gun holstered near her ankle. "That's my girl!" He cleared his throat and pointed to her other leg. "And?" Ava lifted her other pants leg, showing the throwing knives strapped to her calf. "I trained you so well."

"Yeah, you did." Ava headed for the door, then turned to Claude. "By the way, noticed the sticks in my hair?"

Claude's eyes widened as he realized her hair was up, held by two innocent-looking sticks. "You're kidding me!" He shook his head as he grabbed his bag and followed her out of the house. "Dangerous little bitch, aren't you?"

* * *

July 9, 2004

Ava rolled over in her bed as a cell phone began to ring. Frowning as she picked it up, she realized that it was the phone that Thompson had secretly given her. "So it begins." She muttered as she answered the phone. "Yes?"

"I'm on the way there. Buzz me in when I ring the bell."

Ava shuddered with horror. "It's two in the morning."

"I don't give a shit, let me in when I get there. I've got an assignment for you."

"In your pants?" Ava sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Well, that too." Thompson hung up abruptly as Ava stood up and walked over to the nanny cams she had in her room. She quickly switched them on and went into the living room, switching the ones posted there as well. She made sure that they couldn't be seen by Thompson before her doorbell buzzed. Steeling herself, she buzzed him in and paced in the living room. "I can do this." She whispered to herself. "Just relax, don't do anything to piss him off and start hitting. I'll lie back, close my eyes, moan appropriately a time or two and it'll be over." She took a deep breath as she answered the door, her expression blank as Thompson strolled into the room and quickly pulled her into his arms. He began mauling her as he pulled her with him towards her bedroom. Glancing at the cameras over his shoulder, she smirked and lay back on the bed, willing herself as she had many times before, not to do anything to make him angry.

* * *

June 8, 2007

As he drove towards the house, he scanned the areas along the road with his eyes, picking out snipers and agents patrolling the area, supposedly in secret. Smirking, Kane nodded to himself as he drove past the farmhouse. "Think you're so well guarded, don't you?" He whispered to himself. He drove a few miles further past the road before pulling into an empty lot and parking the car. He smiled to himself as he began to walk back towards the house through a field. He'd spot the agents before they'd spot him, taking them out swiftly on his way, usually with a well-placed claw to the jugular and carotid. Once he got closer to the house, he turned into mist and floated towards it, finally materializing inside the house. "Anyone home?" He whispered as he strolled through the house. He could smell them, all of them. They'd obviously all been staying there together. He noticed the sleeping bags rolled up in a corner of the living room and the cots folded up neatly beside the bags. His hands gliding over various surfaces, he noticed the photographs framed together on a fireplace mantelpiece. It was of the redhead Ava and her man Sylar. He frowned as he read the engraving on one frame. "Alexandra and Aaron, true love." He smirked. "Interesting." He turned and headed up the stairs, his nostrils flaring as he caught whiffs of the different people that had recently inhabited the house. "But where did everyone go?" He whispered to himself. He walked into what was obviously a guest bedroom, with two twin beds on opposite walls. He opened a closet and found a box. Kane's eyes widened as he opened the box, staring at the parkas and other clothes inside. "Someone's going somewhere awfully cold soon, aren't they?" He noticed the varying sizes of the clothes and found heavy winter boots in different sizes as well. "But you haven't gone yet. Otherwise, you'd have taken this with you." He stood and walked into the master bedroom, smiling as he inhaled again, taking in the scent of the redhead. He closed his eyes, remembering the conversation he'd overheard in the supermarket between her and her friends. "San Antonio." He whispered to himself. "That's where you went." Turning, he quickly walked out of the room and bounded down the stairs, turning into mist again before leaving. He floated along back towards his car, materializing there before climbing inside and driving away.

* * *

Noah sat in a chair on the deck to a large beach house, leaning his head back as he took in the warm rays of the sun. Sandra held his hand as she sat beside him. "I missed you." He whispered.

Sandra smiled softly. "I missed you too. I'm glad you're here."

Noah turned his head to her, returning her smile. "The last few weeks without you have been tough as hell. Everything's been okay here with you and Lyle though, right?"

Sandra laughed. "Lyle's been learning to surf, when he can get away from Micah and Molly. They've been following him around like little puppy dogs. I think they've found their surrogate big brother. Janice has been good too. I've been helping her out whenever she sits down and can't get back up. Mr. Muggles loves her to pieces. I think I have some competition in his affections with her."

"And The Haitian?"

Sandra nodded. "He's been wonderful." She sighed as she watched Claire and Lyle play in the surf of the ocean. "When you said that we were going to a safe house, I figured you'd place us somewhere hidden-"

"-This is pretty hidden-" Noah grinned as he stared at the expansive beach, empty except for the one large house they were staying in.

"-But I didn't realize you were going to hide us in Paradise." Sandra sighed. "Think if you ever retire you could get them to throw this place in instead of a gold watch?"

Noah laughed. "I don't think that anyone in the company will be willing to let go of this place." He groaned as his cell phone began to ring. "Dammit!" He answered the phone. "Bennet." He sat up straight, his eyes widening. "WHAT?" He nodded. "Of course, any idea where he's going next? Thanks, keep me apprised, you've called Angela and Kaito with this information, yes?" He hung up the phone as Kaito quickly walked onto the deck. Noah turned to him. "You got the call."

Sandra watched both of the men, concerned as Kaito nodded. "Seven agents dead."

"What happened?" She asked.

Kaito stared at the ground. "Kane found the farmhouse. We left today just in time."

Noah took off his glasses, cleaning them sadly. "I don't want to think what would have happened if we were there when he showed up. We're not ready yet."

Kaito sighed. "We'll need to get ready, and soon. Angela and Peter are returning to the house to pick up the anti-venin and the supplies we picked up for Barrow. They'll move the stuff there tonight."

Noah turned his head, watching Claire as she laughed on the beach with her brother. "We're leaving tonight, aren't we?"

Kaito shook his head. "No. He doesn't know that we're here, and he doesn't know about the house in The Hamptons. We'll need a weekend to decompress and relax before we go to Barrow. I've sent for more agents to follow Ava, Sylar and Claude in San Antonio. I doubt that Kane knows they're there, but just to be safe-"

"-I understand." Noah smiled softly at him. "Thank you for not making us all leave tonight."

Kaito nodded, smiling back at him and Sandra. "I understand the need to reconnect with family. I wouldn't dream of us leaving unless we had to."

* * *

July 9, 2004

Thompson rolled off of Ava with a groan. "Now THAT was worth waiting for!"

"Waiting?" Ava smirked. "Waiting for what?"

"For Linderman to finally call off the dogs." Thompson grinned. "Your place is much better than a sleazy hotel room." He sat up and grabbed a file folder from the briefcase he'd brought into the room, tossing it at Ava. "And the other reason I came over."

"South America." Ava flipped through the folder.

"Enrique Juarez is a Columbian drug lord. He rules his people through fear and intimidation."

"Persuasion?" Ava asked.

"Nope, not exactly." Thompson shook his head. "He can control the emotions of those around him. He can make them happier than pigs in shit, or as freaked out as hookers in church. He usually keeps them terrified of him. He has his own town, so to speak, in the rain forests on the border of Columbia and Venezuela. He's been causing a lot of problems for the Columbian government lately, both with his people willing to do anything for him out of fear of reprisal, and the fact that he controls most of the drug trade in the country. The government's afraid he's going to try and overthrow them. That wouldn't be a good idea."

"I wouldn't think so, no." Ava shook her head. "And he's married to Monica Juarez?"

"His wife is another one as well. She's the key to his drug dominance." Thompson smirked. "She can make plants grow with a wave of her hand."

"Interesting." Ava nodded. "Used correctly, it could be a wonderful power."

"Tell me about it." Thompson shook his head. "She could end famines, and instead she's helping her husband lord it over South America while supplying the raw materials for cocaine and heroin. She's been growing a record amount of coca and poppies in the forests there. We first sent a bag-and-tag team to kill him and collect her. She waved her hand and the vines in the rain forest literally ripped our men apart." Thompson handed Ava a stack of photos. "They photographed what happened and sent them to us as a warning not to come back." Thompson nodded as Ava flipped through the photos, gasping in horror. "With a wave of her hand, she killed five agents. They found a business card with our address on one of our men. Stupid agent."

"So I'm going in to kill them both now?" Ava set the photos down, her face pale.

"Yep. The sooner the better." Thompson handed her a plane ticket. "You're flying to Bogota in six hours where you will meet one of our agents from there. Together, you will go in there, kill them both as well as anyone who stands in your way."

"Will do." Ava took the ticket as she climbed out of bed. "I guess I need to pack."

Thompson reached out quickly and grabbed her wrist, his fingers gripping her like a vise. "Not yet, you don't." As Ava stared down at him, he winked. "You'll be gone a few days, I'll need something to tide me over, don't you think?"

* * *

June 8, 2007

"We're here!" Ava opened her eyes as they pulled into a hotel parking lot. She smiled as she stared up at it and turned to Sylar. He shrugged. "Looks nice, huh?"

"Very nice." Ava glanced over her shoulder as Claude pulled in behind them. "Let's go, 'Aaron'."

"Sure thing, 'Lexie'." Sylar smirked as he climbed out of the car. He opened the trunk, frowning at the bags. "Um, you can carry your bag, right?"

"Big baby." Ava grabbed her bag. "Scared you're going to blow up?"

"Yes." Sylar nodded as he took his bag and the dress bag. "So what's in this, anyway?"

"A surprise." Ava called over her shoulder as Sylar handed the keys to the car to a valet.

"Probably a dress made from explosives." He muttered as he followed her into the building. He walked to the front desk and smiled. "I have a reservation for Aaron Abbott?"

The clerk smiled as she typed his name in. "Mr. and Mrs. Abbott, right!" She handed him a set of keys. "Enjoy your stay here at the Crowne Point on the Riverwalk! As you are aware, Mr. Abbott, you requested the Romantic Getaway package-"

"-Well, aren't you precious?" Sylar ignored Claude's guffaws as he stood behind them.

"-Which includes a deluxe suite, complimentary parking and a champagne breakfast for the next two mornings." The clerk beamed as Sylar took the keys. "And you also have a bottle of champagne chilling upstairs with chocolate covered strawberries. Happy anniversary!"

"Thanks." Sylar mumbled as he took the keys and quickly made his way with Ava towards the elevators.

"Romantic getaway package, huh?" Ava grinned at him as he blushed and looked away. "You really pulled out all of the stops, huh?"

"'Aaron' pulled out all of the stops for his wife. I'm just here to keep from losing money and to have a nice, warm vacation before we head off to train in the friggin' arctic."

"We're going to Barrow, Alaska, aren't we?"

"OY!" They turned as Claude walked over to them. "No discussing the facility." He looked around. "Don't want anyone, and I do mean ANYONE from overhearing, got it?"

"Don't look at me." Sylar rolled his eyes. "She's the one who blabbed the location."

"I've heard of it." Ava walked into the elevator as the doors opened, quickly joined by Sylar and Claude. "I figured out it was Barrow as soon as Sylar told me to pack for cold weather last weekend."

"Shut it, both of you." Claude shook his head as he pointed to a camera in the elevator. "Bloody yappy twosome, you are." They stepped off of the elevator on the fifteenth floor. Sylar and Ava went to their suite as Claude approached the one across the hall from them. Claude glanced at them. "So what are the two of you planning on doing first, besides each other."

"We don't know yet." Ava shrugged.

"Just go in your room and stop being such an ass." Sylar muttered as Ava unlocked the door.

"Have fun!" Claude giggled as they walked into the room and closed the door behind them. Claude sighed as he opened his door and looked around at the suite. "Now this is a vacation." He sat in a chair and turned on the television as he flipped through a guide.

Ava set her bag down as she looked around the room. "Nice." She nodded.

"Yeah." Sylar shuffled his feet uncomfortably as he set his bag down beside Ava's and hung the dress bag in a closet. Looking around, he spotted a bottle of champagne chilling on a table, with two crystal champagne flutes set beside it and a plate of chocolate covered strawberries. He took a berry and bit into it, nodding appreciatively as Ava opened the balcony doors and walked onto it, staring at the city. Sylar watched as she looked out at the city and riverwalk for a moment before walking back inside. "Nice room, huh?"

"It is." Ava nodded. They both looked around the room as they stood rooted in place near the table, neither of them meeting the other's eyes.

Sylar finally sighed. "Why is this so nerve-wracking?"

Ava laughed softly. "I don't know." She glanced over at him. "Have you ever done this before?"

"Gone off with someone for a romantic weekend?" Sylar shook his head. "No. You?"

"No." Ava smirked. "Thompson dragged me off to a few places, but I wouldn't have called them romantic at all. I think he just wanted to take me somewhere to tie me up without anyone listening to me bitch about it."

"Tie you up?" Sylar frowned.

"Yeah." Ava nodded. "He loved doing that, disgusting perv. I hated it. I kept getting rope burns on my wrists." As she turned away, Sylar stared at her, his eyes widening for a moment. He opened his mouth to speak, then looked away, shaking his head. "So to answer your question, no. I've never gone away with someone for the weekend. You?"

"No." Sylar whispered. He touched the bottle of champagne, then pulled his hand away. "Strawberry?"

"Maybe later." Ava shook her head. "So what are we going to do?"

Sylar leaned against the wall. "Check out the riverwalk?"

"Good idea." Ava smiled as she pulled off her blazer. Sylar's eyes widened at the holstered gun under her arm. Ava glanced down at it. "Just let me put this away first." She pulled off the gun and set it in a drawer in the nightstand.

As they headed for the door, they stared at each other as someone began to knock on it. Ava opened the door, stepping aside as Claude strode through the door. "I'm not interrupting any shagging, am I?"

"We're dressed, so no." Ava closed the door and turned to Claude. "What's going on?"

Claude looked at both of them. "Noah just called. We left the house just in time. Kane showed up."

* * *

July 9, 2004

Ava stepped off of the airplane in Bogota and made her way to baggage claims. "Agent Reese?" She turned to see a tall man standing behind her. She blinked for a moment in shock as he smiled down at her. He was gorgeous, with wavy black hair, dimples, deeply tanned skin and dark black eyes. He held out his hand. "I'm Simon Lopez. Mr. Linderman and Mr. Thompson told me that you would be arriving today."

Ava stared at him for a moment, finally taking his hand. "Avery Reese."

Simon winked. "And she finally speaks!" He laughed as she blushed and looked away. "You will be staying in a hotel here for the night before we head off to the wilds of the Amazon to hunt down the Juarez couple. Perhaps I can take you to dinner?"

Ava shook her head as she pulled herself together. She grabbed her bag before turning to Simon. "Thanks, but I'm going to stay in and get some rest before tomorrow." She started for the exit with Agent Lopez following behind her. "You've gathered the supplies we're going to need, correct?"

"Correct." Simon smiled down at her. "As well as arms. You know how to launch an RPG?"

"Of course." Ava nodded. "You think we'll need a rocket grenade in the jungle?"

"With those two? We'll need everything we can get our hands on." Simon ushered her towards his car and drove her towards her hotel.

* * *

June 8, 2007

"So what, we're going back to the farmhouse now so we can teleport to Ba-?" Sylar rolled his eyes as Claude shushed him.

"-No. We're not going anywhere for now. Noah told us to stay put and just stay together as much as we can for now. We'll return to the farmhouse Sunday night and teleport from there." He walked towards the door and glanced back at them. "So if you two weren't getting ready to make the beast with two backs, what WERE you about to do?"

Ava shrugged. "Be tourists? Do touristy things?"

"Bloody waste of an expensive hotel room, you two are." Claude snorted as he walked out of the room. "I'll meet you both downstairs in five minutes to get touristy!" He called out before closing the door.

"Great." Sylar sat on the edge of the bed. "He's going to be tagging along at every step. So much for a fun getaway."

"Come on." Ava tugged at his arm. "He's not so bad."

"Says the woman who was trained by him. Let him fart around you before beating you with a metal rod and a baseball bat and finally braining you with a paint can before you tell me that he's not so bad."

* * *

Noah opened his eyes and realized he was standing on another beach. He spotted Peter and Angela as they sat on the deck of another beach house. He glanced over at Hiro and Kaito. "Guess we'd better go talk to her." Noah walked towards the deck with Kaito as Peter got up and walked into the house. "Angela."

"Noah, Kaito, sit down." Angela glanced over her shoulder as Peter closed the door behind her. "There's other pressing business to discuss beside Kane finding the farmhouse. I've been waiting for Sylar to go off with Ava and Claude before I discussed this with you. I didn't want him overhearing and I don't want either of the agents to hear it either." She nodded to Hiro. "Peter's inside with Niki and Micah."

"Go inside, Son." Kaito turned to Angela as she watched Hiro walk into the house.

"He's such a good boy." Angela mused. "Who would have known that he would possess such an interesting and useful power?" She stood up and motioned to Noah. "Walk with me, away from the others." They followed her to the beach and began to walk beside her as she strolled away from the house. "Noah, you came to me a few days ago with some news. Sylar wants to become an agent after Kane is defeated?"

Noah nodded. "He's expressed a great deal of interest in it, yes."

Kaito smiled softly. "We've accepted worse people into the organization under less great circumstances. If he proves himself to be a true leader and proves that he has changed from the murderous criminal that he was, I don't see why he couldn't be an agent." He turned to Noah. "Are you willing to be his director?"

Noah smiled. "He's proven himself quite a lot to me in the last month. I would willingly take him under my wing. I think he'd make a good partner to Agent Reese."

"It's not happening." Noah and Kaito both stopped as Angela turned to them. "I've spoken with the other shareholders about the situation this morning after I arrived here-"

"-you went OVER my head?-" Kaito gasped.

"-and they've agreed with me through a majority vote." Angela pulled her shoulders back, staring at the men with a steely gaze. "As soon as this operation is finished, as soon as Kane is defeated, Sylar will be killed."

"Treachery!" Kaito stammered angrily.

"And just WHO is going to kill him?" Noah glared at her.

"Agent Reese, of course." Angela raised an eyebrow. "She's close enough to him to take him out before he realizes what she's up to. She's killed a man she loved before on our orders, she'll do it again. Sylar is a loose cannon. He's too dangerous to keep alive once he's served his purpose. Once Kane is dead, she will be ordered to kill him, or she will die with him. It's as simple as that."

"And if I don't agree with this?" Kaito shook his head. "He trusts us! We are trusting him to lead a group of us to kill Kane, and he trusts us to do right by him once this is finished! How is killing him afterwards doing right?"

"He's been trying to change!" Noah shouted. "Kaito's right, what you are saying, what you want Ava to do is horrible!"

"He'll never change!" Angela hissed. "He's attacked my son, Kaito's son, your daughter, my granddaughter. Do you trust him enough to put him alone in a room with Claire?" As Noah looked away, Angela smirked. "That's what I thought. He'll never change who he really and truly is. He'll always be a danger to us and anyone else with powers. Once this is over, Ava will destroy him or face execution beside him. Neither of you are to discuss this with anyone, is that understood?"

Noah glared at her. "Do you forget that we have two men who can read minds?"

"I haven't forgotten." Angela glared angrily back at him. "I think Peter knows what we decided, but I can control him. You'd better control Parkman. If word of this gets to Ava or Sylar before the deed is ready to be done-"

"-And I thought the things I've done in my life were evil." Noah turned and walked away from her, his face twisting with fury.

"If he finds out what we've got planned for him before he faces Kane, he could walk away and leave us alone to fend for ourselves!" Angela shouted after him.

Kaito lowered his head. "It would be what we deserved, after using him so." He turned and walked away from her, his heart filled with anger and sadness. When he reached Noah, he patted him reassuringly on the arm. "I'll try and speak to the others, change their minds."

"Do you think you can?" Noah shook his head. "I can't ask Ava to kill him. She loves him, Kaito. It'll destroy her to kill another man she loves. It'll kill her to lose someone else." He looked away. "She's already lost so much."

"I don't know if I can convince the others to change their votes, but I'll do what I can." Kaito turned back to Angela as she stood away from them on the beach. "What she has planned goes beyond morally grey into outright evil. I'd rather not be a part of it, if I can."


	22. Chapter 22: Finally Saying It

Chapter Twenty-Two: Finally Saying It

June 8, 2007

Sylar fiddled with his dress jacket as he sat at the edge of the bed. Staring out at the city lights as the sky dimmed, he wondered again why he'd decided to come on this trip after all. "Should have just let them take the money." He muttered under his breath. As Aaron Abbott, when he'd first booked this suite for the weekend back in March, he and Ava had just recently started sleeping together. He'd been completely and totally in love with his 'wife' and had wanted to sweep her off of her feet and take her away somewhere romantic for the weekend of their anniversary. Now that he'd regained his memory and realized who he was, a romantic weekend just didn't feel right to him. He pushed away the feelings that were nagging at him. Part of him wanted to have this weekend anyway, part of him wanted to be here with her and just be the way he was before he'd remembered being Sylar, but another part of him, the Sylar part of him, wanted to scoff and mock and laugh at the idea of him actually being romantic. The Sylar part of him sneered at the chocolate covered strawberries and champagne that had been waiting for them when they'd arrived. The Sylar part of him didn't want to walk with her along the river walk, or share a meal with her, it just wanted to kill, tear, maim, destroy.

Sylar sighed as he stood up and walked over to the balcony, opening the doors and stepping out onto it. He looked out over the city. It was a beautiful night. The Alamo mission had closed for the evening and was lit up around the outside of the building. After checking into the hotel, Sylar and Ava had walked over to the mission to visit with Claude behind them. He had stayed close enough to protect them both, but far enough away to give them some semblance of privacy. Leaning against the rails as he took in the beauty of the city, Sylar could almost forget who he truly was and pretend to be Aaron again.

Part of him wanted to be Aaron again. The Aaron part of him, or even the Gabriel part of him loved Ava, wanted to be with her and spend the rest of his life with her. Sylar could almost imagine doing just that. _Yeah, because you were such a wonderful guy when you were Gabriel._ He thought to himself. _You were a loser, a meek little loser who let his Mommy push him around, let every woman push him around. You're still letting women push you around. Ava does it all the time. She's got you whipped even worse than your mother did. She doesn't love you. She's just saying that to keep you on her side so you'll help her and her loser friends kill this Kane guy._ Sylar tried to push those thoughts away, shaking his head. Now that he remembered meeting Ava before, when she was posing as Eden's sister, he knew that she could possibly care about him the way he was. She had been kind to him, sweet. Eden had always brushed past him in the halls, not really wanting to speak to him much. When he'd come over to Chandra's and she'd been there, she'd always made an excuse to quickly leave. When he'd see Ava in the halls, she'd always talked to him and struck up conversations with him. She had honestly been interested in him and who he had been then. _Yeah, but she hates the man you are now and she probably only tolerated you then to keep you and Chandra from thinking that both of you were bitches. She was the good cop and Eden was the bad one. You were a loser. No woman like that would ever want to be with a loser._

Sylar ground his teeth angrily as he turned and walked back into the hotel room. "Are you ready to go yet?" He yelled at the bathroom door. "The dinner reservations are for seven!"

"What crawled up YOUR ass?" Ava's voice sounded shocked. They'd gotten along in The Alamo, even holding hands at one point as they returned to the hotel. "I'll be out in a minute, GOD!"

"It's almost seven, HURRY UP!" Sylar turned away and stomped back to the balcony, mentally kicking himself for yelling at her. "Never should have come on this trip." He whispered to himself. "This is stupid and useless and I never should have come."

"Fine! I'm ready!" Sylar turned, his eyes widening as Ava walked into the bedroom. His eyes slowly slid along, taking in everything about her appearance, from the dark hair that had been pinned up into a twist, to the dark green dress she was wearing. The color of the dress made her normally hazel eyes look emerald green. The dress was made out of silk, with a halter top and a plunging neckline. The skirt was long and fitted and slit up one side. Sylar stared as one leg peeked out through the slit, ending in a high, strappy, stiletto heeled shoe. As Sylar's eyes traveled back up her body, he realized Ava was glaring at him. "WELL? Are we going or not? You were the one bitching and acting like an ass a minute ago!"

Sylar cleared his throat. "Sorry. I was just thinking about the traffic. I hate traffic, it gets me cranky"

Ava frowned. "Traffic?"

He nodded, shifting his weight back and forth on his feet nervously. "You know. The NBA finals? There's a lot of traffic in town. The Spurs played the Cavaliers here yesterday, kicked their asses apparently and they're going to play them here again Sunday and um, there's a lot of traffic right now because of it. Lots of out-of-towners."

Ava cocked her head to the side, staring at him. "You follow the NBA finals? I didn't think you watched basketball."

Sylar shrugged, jamming his hands into his pockets. "I heard people talking about it at the Alamo today. Apparently I booked this room just in time in March. If I'd wanted to, I could have probably SOLD my reservation to a rabid Spurs fan and made a killing. I don't even want to know what the company did to get Claude his room on such a short notice."

Ava nodded. "You said this restaurant is on the river walk. We're not going to have to drive anywhere, so there's no need to worry about traffic."

Sylar looked away. "You know, foot traffic. Crowds. They make me cranky too."

Ava rolled her eyes. "Well then, let's go before you decide to use your TK to shove everyone out of our way in your rush to get to the restaurant on time."

"Yeah." Sylar nodded. "Let's do that." He quickly stepped forward and took Ava's arm, placing it in the crook of his as they walked out of the hotel room. He glanced behind her, his eyes widening to realize that the dress had no back. "Definitely need to do that." He whispered.

"What?" Ava stared at him.

"Nothing." Sylar looked away, blushing.

As they stepped out of their room, Claude walked out of his, dressed in a suit. He whistled under his breath. "Well Ava! Don't you look pretty?"

"Thanks!" Ava grinned at him.

"Doesn't she look pretty, Sylar?"

"Shut up." He whispered under his breath as he walked to the elevator with Ava. He frowned as Claude followed them. "You're NOT eating with us!"

"I know, you bloody git! I've got a reservation all by myself at the bar. I'll let you two have a bit of privacy while I get pissed and hopefully pick up a desperate, easy woman while I'm at it. Who says you two get to have all the fun, eh?" Claude snickered.

* * *

July 9, 2004

Simon Lopez sighed softly to himself as he drove back to his apartment. Ava hadn't spoken much to him when he drove her to her hotel room, curtly thanking him before leaving his car and taking her own bag inside. She had refused his repeated request for dinner and had gotten away from him as quickly as she could. Walking to his apartment building and going inside, he realized his assignment was going to be more difficult than he'd originally thought.

"Well? How did it go?" Simon looked up, frowning at the voice as he walked into his apartment. Flicking on a light, he sighed as he spotted Daniel Linderman sitting in a chair, waiting for him. "I take it she refused your advances?"

"You could say that." Simon sat across from Linderman, shrugging. "I asked her to dinner three times as I drove her to her hotel. She refused me flat out, said she wanted to get some rest before we headed out towards the rain forest in the morning. I don't think she liked me very much."

"You're a handsome man, I'm sure she likes you just fine." Linderman shook his head. "Avery has been through some very traumatic events in her young life. Give her time and space, but show her tenderness. She'll be in love with you by the time you two return from your mission."

"Mr. Linderman, I'm not sure about this." Simon shook his head.

"What's wrong?" Linderman's eyes narrowed. "Is she not pretty enough, or smart enough?"

"That's not it." Simon sighed. "She's lovely and I'm sure she's quite intelligent, I'm just not sure what you want from us. What reason do you have to want the two of us together?"

"That's really none of your business, Agent Lopez. WHY I ask you or anyone else to do anything is not your concern. Your main concern should be what I'll do if you don't comply." Linderman laughed softly as Simon shrank back in his chair. "But since you've asked, I'll be kind and tell you just this once why I want you and Avery together. I have an interest in genetics. I like to see what happens when you put subject X and subject Y together. I'd like to see what the offspring of those two would be like." He leaned forward. "I want a subject Z from you and Avery. She's a powerful young woman and you're a powerful young man. The mind boggles at the power a child from the two of you would have."

"And how am I supposed to get this child, when she won't even agree to dinner?" Simon squirmed uncomfortably in his chair.

"As I've already told you, be patient and kind with her. The two of you will be alone together on a mission for at least the next two weeks. You're saying you can't make her fall for you if you're the only person around?" Linderman raised an eyebrow.

"I'll try." Simon nodded.

"No, you'll DO it." Linderman stood up and walked towards the door. As he passed Simon's chair, he clapped a hand on the man's shoulder. "When she becomes pregnant, expect a bonus in addition to the exorbitant amount I'm already paying you."

"Just out of curiosity, what IS her power?" Simon asked.

"Let's put it this way, don't piss her off and don't cheat on her." Linderman chuckled as he exited the apartment.

* * *

June 8, 2007

Sylar picked at his meal as Ava ate hers. He glanced at her nervously before staring at his plate. The restaurant was elegant, with a bar near their table and a band playing. A dance floor was in the middle of the restaurant. Couples danced together as a singer performed soft rock tunes with the band. Sylar didn't have to turn around to know that Claude was sitting almost directly behind him at the bar, swigging drinks and winking at any woman that passed by him. He glanced up at Ava again and looked away. He had barely spoken two words to her since they'd left the hotel. Finally Ava set her fork down and looked at him. "This is awkward."

Sylar sighed with relief. "Yes, it is."

"Why?"

"I have no idea." Sylar laughed nervously. "It's not like this is a first date or anything."

"I know." Ava nodded. "I mean, we've been living together since you got out of the hospital in December. We've been-"

"-I know-"

"-since February, so why is this so weird? We've gone out to dinner before, we've slept together before. Hell, we had sex last night."

"I know." Sylar shrugged. "So why is this so weird?"

Ava shook her head. "I don't know." She looked around. "Maybe because," she paused.

"What?" Sylar asked.

Ava struggled for words. "We've been telling ourselves for the last few weeks that anything we do behind closed doors doesn't mean anything, that we're scratching an itch. When we go off together for the weekend, it means a little more than nothing, don't you think?"

"Yeah, it means I didn't want to pay for a room I wasn't using." Sylar smirked.

Ava rolled her eyes. "Don't give me that shit. If you hadn't wanted to come deep down, you would have found a way to get out of it. You'd have sold the reservation to Mohinder and Candice or Peter and Niki. You wanted to come here, you wanted to bring me here." She sighed as Sylar looked away, frowning. "So let's just stop pretending that this doesn't mean anything, okay?"

"Fine, but it doesn't have to mean EVERYTHING." Sylar picked up his fork and drummed it nervously on the table for a moment as the band started playing another song.

"Fine. You're right, it doesn't have to mean everything." Ava whispered as she gulped down the glass of wine beside her.

_I'm very sure, this never happened to me before  
__I met you and now I'm sure  
__This never happened before._

_Now I see this is the way it's supposed to be  
__I met you and now I see  
__This is the way it should be._

Sylar shifted nervously in his seat as couples started dancing on the floor. He heard Claude groan behind him and finally cough. "Askhertodancedumbass." He whispered as he coughed. Ava giggled as Sylar turned red, embarrassed at Claude's interference.

Sylar sighed. "I can't dance very well."

Ava shook her head. "Neither can I."

"I mainly just stand still and sway back and forth. It's kind of pathetic."

Ava laughed softly. "That's basically how I do it too. Sort of like high-schoolers."

"I know." He stood up. "Wanna give it a try to shut Dr. Who up behind me?"

"Sure." Ava took his hand and walked with him out to the dance floor. She placed her hands on his shoulders as he placed his on her waist. They stared at each other awkwardly, barely moving.

_This is the way it should be for lovers  
__They shouldn't go it alone.  
__It's not so good when you're on your own._

Finally Ava moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she placed her head on his shoulder. Sylar finally smiled softly as he wrapped his arms around her, and rested his cheek on the top of her head, his hands stroking the skin on her bare back.

_So come to me, now we can be what we want to be  
__I love you and now I see  
__This is the way it should be_

* * *

July 10, 2004

Ava stretched as she climbed out of bed, smiling to finally be able to sleep all night in a hotel room without worrying about being pawed and manhandled by an unwanted companion. After she showered, she changed into khakis and a tank top, pulling her hair back into a ponytail before finally lacing up a pair of heavy-duty hiking boots. She turned to her suitcase and packed any essentials she'd need for the next few days into a lightweight backpack, including the weapons she'd brought with her. She turned as someone rapped softly on her hotel room door and opened it. The moment she saw Simon in front of her, her heart started pounding. "Hey." She looked away from him for a moment. _Don't get attached, don't get involved. You know what Thompson will do if you slip up here. He owns you. You know this, unfortunately._ "You ready?"

Simon nodded. He was dressed in khakis and boots as well, along with a form-fitting tee shirt. "I've got everything we need for the jungle." He glanced at her backpack. "And you brought-?"

"A couple of changes of clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, and my weapons."

Simon laughed softly. "Everything you'll need to survive, practically."

"You got it." Ava grabbed her backpack and a lightweight canvas jacket. She glanced at the rest of her things that were still in the room. "Everything will be fine here, right?"

"Yes. The company will pay for this room until we return and you are sent back to the states. You could leave everything in my apartment if you're worried about it though."

"S'okay." Ava shrugged. "I don't have anything irreplaceable." She walked past him as he closed the door and followed her downstairs. "So what supplies have you brought?"

"Besides weapons?" Simon shrugged. "A tent, sleeping bags, food."

"Just one tent?" Ava turned to him, glaring.

"Yes, just one." Simon nodded. "I don't think it would be a good idea for us to be separated, even by a tent once we get out into the jungle. You've never been in a situation like this, have you?"

"No." Ava looked away.

"There are many creatures out there that could attack either one of us in the dark. It would be best to stay close. Also, the closer we get to the Juarez compound, the better off we'll be if we're not separated." Simon glanced at her as he pointed out his jeep. "You're not worried about me overstepping my bounds if I'm sleeping in a bag beside you, are you?"

"Not at all." Ava muttered as she walked past him. She climbed into the jeep, tossing her backpack in the seat behind her. Simon smiled as he climbed in beside her and started up the vehicle. "Let's get this over with."

"You in a hurry to return to the states?" Simon smiled teasingly at her. "Got a boyfriend you'd like to get back to?"

"No." Ava snarled. "I absolutely don't have one of those."

"Oh." Simon smirked. "Girlfriend?"

"NO." Ava glared at him. "What's with the questions?"

"Nothing. Just thought I'd try and get to know you a bit."

"Why?"

Simon sighed. "It's a day long drive to the rainforest. Once we reach it, we're going to have to travel to the Juarez compound on foot. That'll take another four days at the least, plus after we're finished, it'll take another four days at least to return to the jeep before we spend another day driving back here, to Bogota. Is it wrong to want to know something about the only person you'll be spending the better part of the next two weeks with?" He frowned as Ava looked away, not speaking. "You're going to be a tough one to get to know, aren't you?"

"Then maybe you shouldn't try to get to know me." Ava muttered.

* * *

June 8, 2007

They walked together along the riverwalk, their hands clasped behind their backs as they talked. "So you're still thinking about being an agent with us when this is over?" Ava asked.

"What else am I going to do?" Sylar shrugged. "I've basically been training for it these last few weeks, right?"

"Right." Ava nodded. "You know, you don't have to be a field agent."

Sylar stopped, half-smiling at her. "You don't think I'm cut out for it, do you?"

Ava turned to him, her eyes wide. "I think you'll be cut out for it fine, once you stop bitching and moaning about the training. I was simply thinking that, with your intuitive aptitude and the eidetic memory you got from Charlie Andrews, you'd be just as apt to be a support agent."

"Support agent." Sylar snorted as he started walking again. "Is that a new name for egghead?"

"Yeah, basically." Ava nodded. "I watched you working on clocks and watches for six months. If you applied that same expertise to creating technology, you could be-"

"-Our agency's version of Q, basically!" Claude said behind them.

"Yeah, because Q was so cool." Sylar muttered.

"He was, when you think about it. If it weren't for his exploding pens and missile-shooting Aston Martins, just think about all the times that James Bond would have been killed." Claude nodded.

Ava sighed. "Claude? Can you please go back to your hotel room and let us have SOME time alone without you breathing over our shoulders? We're not underage, and if he tries to hurt me, which I doubt strongly that he'll do, I believe I could take him."

"Fine, I suppose I'll leave the two of you be for now." Claude glared at Sylar. "Lay a hand on her in a hurtful way, and I'll smash your skull again." He pointed to his eyes and then pointed at Sylar.

"Yeah, I get it. You're watching me. Watch me do this, okay?" He flipped Claude off.

Claude rolled his eyes. "I swear to God, you two are even more socially retarded than I am. I've spent the last few years as hermit, what's your bloody excuses, huh?" He turned and walked away as Ava shook her head.

"He's an asshole." Sylar muttered.

"He grows on you. He's got a good heart." Ava turned to Sylar. "So now that we're alone, we can walk and talk without him throwing in his two cents worth every few seconds."

"Yay." Sylar muttered. "Like this night hasn't been awkward enough. First we have the uncomfortable dinner of silence, then the god-awful dancing-"

"-You weren't THAT bad. You were no more worse than I was."

"Exactly." Sylar laughed softly. "We danced like two idiot teens at their first sock-hop."

"It was nice." Ava shivered for a moment, rubbing her bare arms. "I liked it." She stopped and turned to stare out at the river as it flowed by.

Sylar stood next to her, leaning on the railing. "You realize that this is the first time that we've been really and truly alone together since the night we broke each other's noses?"

Ava looked around. "Oh, I'm sure there's an OWI agent or two following us discreetly."

"Yeah, and there were OWI agents watching us on camera at our house too, but we were still alone."

"True. We don't have Claude popping in every few minutes-"

"-Or Claire screaming at Candice for using up her shampoo-"

"-Or Peter and Niki boinking like bunnies the next room over-"

"-Not that we haven't been trying to give them a run for their money." Sylar grinned. "And now that Candice has been feeling better, it's a wonder anyone is able to sleep at night, with the dueling bedsprings in three different bedrooms now."

"Maybe we'll have more privacy when we head off to the colder place." Ava smiled at Sylar. "Think they'll let us bring Mac?"

Sylar smirked. "Maybe he'll bond with his bio-daddy this weekend and Sandra won't be able to bear to break them up."

"You don't mean that, you love that ball of fluff." Ava grinned. "You thought he was the cutest thing when I gave him to you for Christmas."

"I can't believe you gave me, a GUY, a friggin' Pomeranian for Christmas!" Sylar shook his head.

"Well, I knew you'd get lonely at the house all day, even if you were busy with the clocks and Sandra had been given the pick of the litter when she let Mr. Muggles go out for stud. Noah realized that TWO Poms yapping around the house was going to be a little much, so he convinced Sandra to sell Mac to us."

"When this is over, we're going to have to give him back, aren't we?" Sylar asked.

"Maybe not. I did actually pay for him and he is pretty attached to you. If we go our separate ways after this, he'd probably pitch a bitchy little fit if you DIDN'T take him with you."

"Great, so I'll get custody of the dog."

"If you want him. If not, I'm sure Sandra would love to have him back."

"And if we stayed together?" Sylar glanced over at her as she rubbed her arms again. He pulled off his suit jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

Ava wrapped the jacket tighter around her, not meeting his glance. "Would you want to do that, stay with me?"

"Would you want to stay with me?" Sylar asked.

Ava turned to him. "Yes."

"Why?"

She leaned forward, kissing his cheek. "Because I love you, whether you want to hear it or not, believe it or not, I love you."

"You love the man that I was before I remembered who I truly was. You love Aaron, not Sylar." Sylar stared at the river, gritting his teeth.

Ava glared at him. "Look at me. LOOK AT ME!" Sylar sighed and turned to look at her. "When I took this assignment, I knew who you were, okay? I knew what you'd done, I knew what you were capable of if you ever got your memory back, but I also knew the man you were before you went on this 'I am Sylar, hear my roar' kick. I cared about that man, and I cared about you. When I fell in love with you, I fell in love with every aspect, good and bad. Do I love the way you were when you were kind and caring to me? Yes! But I love this man too. Sylar scares the hell out of me, but I still love him. You're angry, you have a chip on your shoulder the size of Texas, and you're self-destructive as hell, but I still love you and I know you love me too." Sylar looked away, shaking his head. "You can stand there and be an asshole and deny it all you want, but I KNOW that you love me! You loved me as Aaron. You told me many times every day that you loved me and when you weren't TELLING me that you loved me, you SHOWED it! That just doesn't go away when you suddenly remember 'hey, I'm a killer too!'! Either you still love me now or you were lying when you said you loved me then, which is it?" Sylar stared at the ground, his hands jammed deep into his pockets. "WELL?" Ava snorted with disgust as she shrugged off his jacket, tossing it at him. "FUCK YOU!" She spun on her heel and stomped away as Sylar caught his jacket and watched her leave, his eyes wide. He turned and stared at the river again for a moment before he turned and followed her.

"Ava? AVA WAIT!" He ran after her. "Shit, you're fast!" She continued to walk quickly back towards the hotel with him chasing behind her. "AVA DAMMIT!" As she reached the hotel he finally caught up with her, grabbing her arm and spinning her around. He yelped as her hand flew up to strike him and caught her wrist in his grasp. "What did I tell you before about hitting me?" He grabbed her by her arms and shook her. "What in the hell is wrong with you, huh? WHY do I have to do this? Why are you making me say it?" Ava looked away, tears in her eyes as he shook his head. "You want me to say it? FINE! I love you too Avery, but I'm scared, okay?"

"You don't think I know that?" Ava took a deep breath. "You don't think I can sense you struggling not to kill me whenever we're together. You alternate between desiring to kill me and desiring to be with me all while being scared to death of either loving me or losing me. I can sense that, remember?"

Sylar nodded. "I know. Part of your fucked up psionic manipulation power. I'm scared to get too close because I KNOW that one day, I could easily just snap and let Sylar out, COMPLETELY out. I could kill you, Ava. Do you know what it would do to me to kill you?"

"I know." Ava nodded. "You have to fight it, Sylar."

"I've been trying. I try so hard to fight it. So far I'm winning, but what if I lose that battle one day when you're around?"

"Then I'll beat you back down, just like I did before." Ava sighed. "And we'll start over again."

"And if it happens again?"

"I'll do that over and over again with you until you finally realized that trying to kill me wouldn't be a good idea." Ava laughed. "You're pretty stubborn, but it would probably sink in sooner or later that you can't kick my ass."

"Probably." Sylar smirked. He sighed and shook his head. "God, we're a messed up pair."

"I know." Ava nodded. "We're probably only best matched for each other. No one else would be able to put up with our bullshit."

"Tell me about it." Sylar let go of her arms.

Ava rubbed her arms and smiled. "So you finally said it."

"Yeah, I finally said it." Sylar shrugged. "Now what?"

Ava smiled and wrapped her arms around him. "Take me upstairs."

Sylar nodded as he leaned down, kissing her softly before stepping back and taking her hand. "Come on." He whispered as he led her into the hotel.

From across the street, Kane watched them in his car. There were two Crowne Pointe hotels in San Antonio, he'd gone to the other one first to search for them. He'd found the front desk clerk to be most helpful once he'd 'convinced' her to search the register for the 'Abbotts'. Finally, he realized his mistake and had driven to this one beside the river. He'd pulled up just as the redhead Ava had stormed across the street, directly in front of his car. Her hair had been dyed a dark brown, but there was no mistaking her, even without the flaming red hair. It would have been so easy to crank his car and run her down, run them both down as Sylar had chased after her. He'd watched as they'd argued in front of the hotel before finally kissing and going inside. Kane smirked as he watched them. He'd focused his vision on the man mostly, reading his lips as they'd argued. He had said that killing her would destroy him. "What will it do to you when I kill HER?" Kane mused. He nodded. He knew what he would do. "Kill her first, make him watch, make him beg for her life." He cocked his head to the side. "Torture them together? Make each of them beg for the other to be spared?" He laughed softly. "But she'll die first, it'll break him to watch her die in front of him, slowly and agonizingly." He climbed out of his car and made his way to the hotel, he approached the front desk and smiled at the clerk behind it, focusing his power on her. "Hello, I'm looking for my sister Alexandra Abbott." He smirked as the clerk's eyes unfocused. She gazed at him with a stunned expression on her face. "My sister? Alexandra? She's here with her husband Aaron."

The clerk nodded dumbly as she turned to the computer terminal and typed in a name. "They're in suite 1501." She said in a soft, monotone voice.

Kane nodded. "Thank you."

The moment they entered the elevator, Sylar pulled Ava into his arms, kissing her passionately as his hands stroked her bare back. As soon as they reached the fifteenth floor, they spilled out together, stumbling towards the door to their suite. Hearing them, Claude stepped out of his room. "It's about time you two got back-" Seeing them kissing, he turned and quickly walked back into his room, both of them ignoring him as they opened their door and made their way inside, Gabriel kicking the door closed behind him. "Definitely calling a hooker." Claude muttered as he closed his own door. "Both of them shagging all the time. Why did I have to volunteer for this shit?"

Inside their room, Sylar nuzzled Ava's neck, his hands working on the bun in her hair, trying to undo it as Ava pulled off his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt. Sylar grinned in triumph as Ava's hair came down, tumbling around her shoulders as they kissed. He hiked up her skirt as they stumbled towards the bed, frowning as his hand slid up her thigh. "What the hell?" His eyes widened as Ava shrugged bashfully and removed the gun and holster that had been strapped to it, placing it quickly on the nightstand. "A gun? THERE? Seriously?"

"Doesn't it make you feel all safe and cozy knowing that I'm always armed?" Ava giggled.

"Please, with or without a gun, you're always packing heat." Sylar laughed as he began to kiss her again. His hands slid up her thighs as she unbuttoned his pants. Ava moaned as his hands slid up further. Unable to stand it any longer, Sylar wrapped her legs around his waist and entered her as they fell across the bed, thrusting hard and fast as he kissed her. Moments later, they both shuddered and cried out as Sylar collapsed on top of her. Breathing hard, he rolled off of her and stared at the ceiling. "Next time, we'll actually take our clothes off." He laughed as Ava started giggling.

"Nothing wrong with this either." She rolled over and kissed him. "Getting so caught up in the moment that we just had to do it as quickly as possible? I didn't mind that at all."

"Maybe the next time will last a little longer than two or three minutes."

Ava sat up and scooted off of the bed, heading for the champagne that still chilled on the table. "Hey, I got mine." She grinned as she opened the bottle and poured two glasses. Sylar sat up as Ava walked over to him, handing him a glass. "To finally saying 'I love you'."

"Cheers." Sylar took a sip from his glass then took Ava's, setting both of them to the side. "Let's try this again without our clothes on." He kissed her again as he pulled off his shirt.

On the fifteenth floor, elevator doors opened as a barely visible mist poured out of them. It slid under the door of room 1503 before materializing into Kane. He turned, noticing the woman that was sleeping in the bed and looked around, making sure no one else was there. He walked to the wall of the room, scanning it with his vision until he could see them together in the next room over. He ground his teeth as he watched them making love on the bed, their bodies moving together as they kissed. He remembered the woman he'd loved in Japan, the woman he'd made a princess. He'd loved her, had married her, as the legends had proclaimed. Soon after their marriage, he'd discovered that she was in love with someone else, the man who had helped him realize his destiny as Kensei, the sword saint: Hiro Nakamura. Now, every time he saw a couple in love, a couple kissing in a car or walking down the street holding hands, or making love as passionately as the couple in the room next door to him were, he was reminded of the princess and the pain he felt knowing that she had married him while being in love with another man. Part of him wanted to barge into their room now, kill them both together while they were at their most vulnerable, but a stronger part of him held back. He wanted to fight them. Entering their room as they were naked and entwined would be too easy. He wanted to battle both of them and destroy them while laughing at the old fool who had once predicted that they would be part of a group that would kill him. He wanted to laugh at their powers before taking them for himself. No, he would wait until later, pounce when they weren't in bed together and make them both suffer before he finally destroyed them both. He reached out and touched the wall, stroking it as lovingly as the woman stroked her lover's back, urging him on as they moved together. "I'll let you two have one last night of bliss." He whispered, making sure to block the sound from the woman whose room he'd entered. "One last night on earth before I kill you both."

In their room, Ava looked around, frowning as Sylar moved on top of her. Sylar slowed down and stared at her. "Ava?" He touched her cheek and leaned down, kissing her. "What is it?"

Ava shook her head. "I thought I felt-" she sighed "-I don't know."

Sylar kissed her again. "There's no one here. It's just us, remember?" Ava looked up at him, nodding. "Stay with me. Don't let your mind wander off. Keep it here, keep it with me."

Ava smiled and kissed him back as he began to move again. She moaned softly. "Always."


	23. Chapter 23: San Antonio Battle

Chapter Twenty-Three: San Antonio Battle

June 9, 2007

Sylar murmured sleepily as Ava climbed out of bed, his eyes opening to slits to take in her naked body as she walked towards the bathroom. "Where you going?" He mumbled.

"Shower." She whispered, stretching. "Mind ringing up room service so we can have that complimentary champagne breakfast they promised us?"

"More champagne?" Sylar laughed softly, nodding at the empty bottle beside their bed. "I'm still buzzed over drinking all of that last night."

Ava shrugged. "Hey, we're on vacation. We can stay buzzed all weekend if we want."

"Good point." Sylar rolled over and called room service before climbing out of bed and walking into the bathroom. He laughed as he stepped into the shower with Ava. "They'll be here in ten minutes with breakfast. I guess I'll get clean with you until they get here."

Kane was still standing at the wall of the adjoining hotel room, watching the couple as they kissed in the shower. His eyes narrowed and he turned his head as he heard the woman in the room with him start to stir. Activating his sound-blocking power, he walked over to her bed as she woke up, her eyes flying open to see him standing over her. "So unfortunate for you that you had to have a room next to my enemies, isn't it?" He laughed as he hand shot out quickly. She barely had a chance to scream before her blood sprayed on the wall over the bed. Kane sighed and turned back to the wall, watching as his quarry climbed out of their shower together and dried off, wrapping their bodies in fluffy white robes. "It's show time." He whispered as he began to turn into a mist. He re-materialized, frowning as he spotted their hotel room door opening, a tall blond-haired man walking through it. "Shit, they're not alone." He muttered.

"OY!" Claude walked into the room, frowning at the empty bottle of champagne beside the bed, the two glasses lying sideways beside it. "YOU TWO! YOU DRESSED?"

"Close enough." Ava walked into the room wearing a robe as she toweled off her head. "What's up?"

Claude shrugged as he sat on the couch. "Got bored in my room. Figured you two would have had enough of shagging by now."

"Figure again." Sylar walked into the room, glaring at Claude. "What's the matter? You get tired of paying for hookers, or couldn't you find someone willing to play with your bangers and mash?"

"Oh, I called someone." Claude stretched out on the couch. "We had a bit of the old in and out and then she left. I couldn't afford to keep her around all day." He looked around the room. "Got anything to eat?"

"Are you KIDDING me?" Sylar glared at him as someone knocked on the door. Ava answered it and thanked the room service waiter as he brought in their breakfast, tipping him on his way out the door.

"Oh thank GOD! Breakfast!" Claude started to get off of the couch and frowned as Sylar waved his hand, shoving him back down. "WHAT?"

"This is OUR breakfast! If you want something to eat, you can order it yourself and eat it in YOUR room!" Sylar sat down beside Ava and lifted the lid of the silver chafing dish on their table. "Breakfast quiche."

"Looks good." Ava grinned at him as Claude stared at them from the couch.

"What's in it?"

"Eggs, sausage, bacon, cheese." Sylar put some on his plate and smiled. "Oh, this looks good."

"You two realize you're being bloody cruel." Claude glared at them.

"Then go order your own." Sylar muttered.

Ava sighed. "There's more here than the two of us can eat, Claude. Come on."

"AVA!" Sylar sighed as Claude leaped up from the couch and pulled up a chair.

"Oh hush." Ava rubbed Sylar's leg. "Just humor me."

Sylar leaned towards her. "You can humor ME in a whole other way later."

"Oh, I intend to." Ava winked as they began to eat.

"Later though." Claude mumbled through a mouthful of food. "You realize that there's a Ripley's museum here, right? Might be rather cool to check out some of our actual forefathers." He looked up, noticing the confused looks on Sylar and Ava's faces. "You honestly think that the people that were considered freaks years ago DIDN'T have powers?"

"He's got a point." Sylar nodded.

"He usually does." Ava set her fork down and leaned on her elbows, looking at Claude. "Fine, we'll check out that museum this morning, but after that, you need to leave us alone for the rest of the day, got it?"

"Hell, the rest of the weekend." Sylar pointed his fork at Claude. "You're kind of a fifth wheel."

"I thought it was called a third wheel." Claude stared at him.

"Uh no." Sylar shook his head. "A third wheel is actually helpful and supportive. Ever ride a Big Wheel when you were a kid? That third wheel was awesome. A fifth wheel doesn't do shit except be a pain in the ass, much like you on this trip."

"Sylar." Ava glanced over at him.

"What?" Sylar shrugged as Claude rolled his eyes. "When I planned this, I wasn't expecting this yahoo constantly barging in and acting like an ass!"

"Fine!" Claude smirked. "I'll drag the two of you off to a museum, and then I'll leave you both alone until tomorrow morning when it's check-out time. How does that strike you both?"

Sylar beamed. "Oh, that sounds wonderful, thank you."

* * *

July 12, 2004

Simon glanced over his shoulder at Ava as they trekked through the jungles of Columbia. She had barely spoken to him since they'd begun their journey two days earlier, only answering his questions with yes or no answers and hardly ever asking any in return. For the last day and a half they'd been hiking, she'd kept up with him easily, sometimes surpassing him in hiking in the dense terrain he'd grown up around. He watched her now as she walked behind him, her head down as she pushed through the vines and mud, a look of grim determination on her face as she stopped for a quick moment to adjust the heavy pack on her back before walking again. "Do you ever get tired?" He asked.

"Yes." She nodded.

"It's surprising. I haven't seen you appear tired at all since we began. I was starting to think that was perhaps your power."

"Endurance?" Ava shook her head. "I wish it were something that simple."

Simon smiled quickly, finally getting more than a yes or no answer from her. "So what IS your power?"

"What's yours?" Ava glanced up at him, catching the smile on his face before frowning and staring at the ground again.

Simon turned away, his smile widening as he realized she was blushing. "What makes you think I have a power?"

"Simple. They wouldn't send me out here with a civilian, not after what happened to their last agents."

"True." Simon nodded. "Tell me yours and I'll tell you mine."

"You'll see it in action soon enough." Ava muttered. "In about two and a half days if your calculations are correct." She looked up, glaring as Simon started laughing. "What's so funny?"

"I had originally said the hike would be four days because I figured it would take that long with you."

"Oh?" Ava's eyes narrowed. "Why would you think that?"

"Because you're an American, and a woman." Simon looked over his shoulder at her, laughing louder as Ava glared at him. "What? Your women there are spoiled and pampered, yes? You sit around, eating bon-bons and driving your children to ballet classes and football practice, when you're not watching your soap operas. I figured it would take two extra days to reach the Juarez compound with you tagging along, whining about your feet hurting and screaming at every animal and insect that crossed our paths."

"You've been watching too many television shows. Not all women, American or otherwise are spoiled, pampered women who scream at the sight of bugs and snakes. I've been training for missions like this since I was seventeen, thank you."

"And how old are you now?" Simon asked.

"Twenty-four." Ava shook her head. "Wait no, I'm twenty-six."

"They adjusted your age when you were recruited as well?" Simon grinned as Ava stared at him. "I'm actually thirty-two, but my documents say I'm thirty-five."

"Were you recruited as a teenager too?"

Simon nodded, hacking a group of vines out of their way with a machete. "Yes. I was fourteen when I manifested. They found me rather quickly and recruited me. It was either go with them-"

"-Or die." Ava whispered.

"Yes." Simon turned to her. "They decided that my power, unless I was taught to use it properly, would be quite dangerous. Unless I worked with them, I would be too dangerous to live."

"Me too." Ava nodded. "So what IS your power?"

Simon winked at her. "Remember when I asked you about RPG's?" Ava nodded. "There are no rocket propelled grenades here. I am the grenade."

Ava's eyes widened as she finally smiled. "No shit." She whispered.

"No shit." Simon nodded. "Now you."

Ava raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you'll see it soon enough." She looked around at the jungle. "So the hike was actually a two-day instead of four, correct?"

"Correct." Simon sighed, shaking his head at her in frustration. "What's your power?"

Ava ignored him as she scanned the area. "So we're actually rather close to the Juarez compound."

"Yes." Simon walked over to her, his face inches from hers as she ignored him, her eyes still scanning the jungle around them. "What's your power, Querida?" He whispered.

Ava's eyes widened. "Shit." She whispered.

"What?" Simon stared at her, confused.

"We're fucked." Simon looked around, realizing they were surrounded as men in camouflage stepped out of the jungle, surrounding them. Simon's eyes narrowed as he clenched his fists. He frowned as Ava grasped his wrist, shaking his head. "Not here." She whispered as she studied the men. "None of these men are Juarez." She smiled nervously as the men surrounded them, pointing guns at them at every turn. "We come from The Company, Senor Juarez knows what I mean. We come with a message for him and Senora Juarez. We ask to be taken to them."

The leader of the group walked over to her, leering as he reached out, stroking her ponytail. "Oh, you'll see Senor Juarez all right. You'll both see him very soon."

Ava glared at him. "Get your hands off of me. You won't like what will happen if you don't."

"OH?" He reached out to grasp her face and gasped as one of her hands quickly shot out, grabbing his hand and bending the fingers back. He screamed in pain, falling to his knees as she continued to bend his fingers with one hand, pulling out a gun and placing it between his eyes with the other. The men around him began to cock their rifles, pointing them at her and Simon.

Ava ignored them, glaring down at the man who screamed on the ground beside her. "Shut up and tell your men to lower their guns or I'll put a bullet between your eyes after I break your fucking hand."

"You kill me, my men kill you and your friend." He moaned.

"Yeah, but you'll go first and you'll go screaming in pain, dumb ass. My friend and I are here to give Senor and Senora Juarez a message, that is all. We haven't come here to fight and I haven't come here to get raped and murdered before giving that message, so you'll tell your stupid ass buddies to put their weapons down now, got it? If we wanted you dead, we'd have killed every one of you the moment you stepped out of the jungle."

"With what?" He whimpered.

Ava leaned down, her lips close to his ear. "Do you really want to know?" The man shook his head. "Tell them to lower their weapons and I'll release your hand and relinquish not only the gun I'm pointing at you now, but all of the weapons I have on me. My friend Senor Lopez will do the same-"

"-Ava-" Simon warned her.

"-And we'll go peacefully with you back to the Juarez compound. If you don't give us any more shit, you may end up living through this, comprende?"

"And if we decide to kill you now?" The man glared up at her. Ava smiled wickedly at him for a moment, her eyes boring into his as she slowly let go of his hand. His eyes widened as he glanced into the jungle over his shoulder and suddenly started screaming. He backed away from her, scrabbling backwards on his hands before falling back, screaming louder. His men turned away from Ava and Simon, staring at him terrified. The man covered his face with his hands, screaming and crying before finally turning his fingers inward, digging at his eyes. Simon turned away, retching as the man pulled his eyeballs out as he shrieked and cried, finally falling to the ground dead.

Ava turned to the rest of the men as they stared at her, their eyes filled with terror and respect as they lowered their guns. "Who's the leader NOW?" She asked. She pulled back her shoulders, straightening her spine as another man stepped forward, his eyes lowered. "Your name?"

"Emilio." He whispered. He gasped as Ava stepped forward and handed her gun to him. She quickly pulled off the rest of the guns and handed them to him before reaching towards Simon, snapping her fingers at him. Simon gaped at her in shock for a moment before pulling out his guns and placing them in her hands. She turned to Emilio and handed Simon's guns to him as well.

"You realize now that I'm not going to need those, don't you?" Emilio nodded quickly. "And you realize that every one of you will die before a single bullet is fired, correct?" Emilio nodded again. "Good. Now, you will take us to the Juarez compound and then you'll disappear if you want to live. The first one of you who lays a hand on me or my companion will meet the fate of your friend there." She cocked her head at the dead man lying near them.

"What are you going to do?" Emilio asked her.

"Avenge my fellow agents." She glared at him. "And you know they deserve to be avenged."

Emilio quickly turned to the others and barked orders at them. The men surrounded Ava and Simon, shouldering their guns as they began to march deeper into the jungle, everyone giving Ava a wide berth and terrified glances.

Simon leaned towards her. "What the fuck did you do back there?"

Ava shrugged. "It's rather silly to live in a rain forest and actually be scared of anacondas, isn't it?" She muttered with a twisted smile on her face. "He died thinking that the biggest one he'd ever seen was coming towards him and eating him, feet first. That was the last thing he saw before he tore his eyes out and died of a stroke."

"Holy shit." Simon whispered. "You do realize that anacondas don't eat you feet first, right? They compress you, suffocate you and eat you head first."

"Yeah, you'd think that he'd have known that." Ava smirked. "Guess he was just too scared shitless to realize otherwise."

"So you make illusions?" Simon asked.

"Not exactly." Ava shook her head. "More like seriously fucked-up hallucinations created to kill you either through your greatest terror or pleasure."

"If I ever piss you off, please remember that I'd rather hallucinate being fucked to death by Salma Hayek."

"Wouldn't every man?" Ava grinned, glancing over at him as they walked through the jungle.

* * *

June 9, 2007

Kane glared at the wall as Ava, Sylar and Claude walked out of their room. His hands were curled into fists, his claws digging into the flesh of the palms of his hands. Blood dripped from his fingers for a moment before his hands healed. "This is getting quite frustrating." He muttered. "I've had enough of this shit."

As they entered the lobby, the front desk clerk waved them over. Sylar stared at her, confused as she smiled at him. "Sorry to bother you, but Janine, the girl I relieved? She wanted to know if Mrs. Abbott's brother found her."

Sylar frowned. "Excuse me?"

Ava stepped forward, her heart stopping as she stared at the girl. "I don't have a brother."

The clerk shook her head. "No, Janine said that you had a brother who came here last night looking for you."

Ava's blood ran cold as Claude cursed under his breath and turned, his eyes scanning the lobby. "Did Janine say what he looked like?"

The clerk nodded. "She said he was very handsome with blond curly hair and blue eyes."

"Shit." Sylar whispered.

Ava swallowed hard. "Did Janine seem a little dazed when you relieved her this morning? Confused, maybe?"

The clerk frowned. "Well now that you mention it, yeah. She looked a little out of it."

Ava turned around quickly, grabbing Sylar's arm as she approached Claude. "Kane."

"I know." Claude muttered. "You sensing anything?"

Ava frowned and shook her head. "No." She turned to Sylar. "You hear anything last night?"

"No." Sylar glanced over at Ava. "But remember when we were-" he cleared his throat "-you said you felt something, what was it?"

Ava closed her eyes. "I got a fleeting sense of someone wanting us dead, but I pushed it away to stay in the moment with you." She shook her head. "I thought it was you for a second, wanting to kill me."

"No." Sylar shook his head. "There were many things I wanted to do to you all night, but killing you wasn't one of them." He took a deep breath. "He's here."

"I know." Ava whispered.

"He knows our room number."

"I know."

Sylar shuddered. "He was probably in the room with us, or near us, watching us."

"I KNOW." Ava growled. She turned to Claude. "Vacation's over, I think."

"Fantastic." Claude muttered. "Our stuff's upstairs. Our keys, our-"

"-Wait." Sylar shook his head. "We're NOT going back up there. He's got to be waiting for us."

"Unless he's already down here, hiding in plain sight." Claude sighed. "We have to risk it. We have to get our car keys at least so we can get out."

"No we don't." Sylar shook his head again. "You've got a phone. Call Bennet, tell him what's up and have him send Hiro here. We can be out of here and back at the farmhouse in just a matter of seconds."

"He's got a point." Ava nodded.

"Bloody hell." Claude walked towards a corner with Ava and Sylar behind him, both of them checking over their shoulders for any sign of Kane. He pulled out the phone and started to dial it, cursing. "It's not working."

"What?" Ava glanced over her shoulder at him.

"It's not fucking working!" Claude nodded towards the stairs. "Let's go. You armed?"

"Always." Ava nodded.

"I'm not!" Sylar stared at them. "And I'm not going up fifteen flights of stairs! What's wrong with the elevator?"

"He can turn into mist, you bloody arse." Claude glared at him. "He can disable the elevators, make it crash. We'd be trapped. On the stairs, we'd have a better chance of fighting him."

"Shit." Sylar moaned as they quickly entered the stairwell and began to run up them, Claude in front of him with two guns pulled, Ava flanking him and doing the same. "We're so fucked."

"Save your breath for running, not whining Mate!" Claude hissed.

Kane had stepped off of another elevator as they'd approached the desk, quickly hiding as they'd been given the message about Ava's 'brother'. He smiled as he watched them realize he was there, waiting for them. When the blond one had pulled out his phone, Kane blocked the signal, relishing the chance to attack them at first notice. He watched as the entered the stairwell and realized that it was time. Waiting a few minutes, he turned into mist and slid under the doorway, sliding up through the air unseen before appearing on the landing above them. Claude gasped as Kane smirked at him. "Hello and goodbye." He quipped as he spat poison at him. Sylar quickly pushed Claude aside, raising his hand and flinging the poison back into Kane's face as Ava and Claude opened fire. Kane's body jerked as the bullets entered him, falling against the wall in a bloody heap before Sylar flung the body over the railings of the stairs with a quick twitch of his hand.

Claude glanced over the rails watching as the body hit the ground below before turning to Sylar. "Quick reflexes. Thanks on that."

"Save your breath for running, not thanking Mate!" Sylar grinned before they started running back up the stairs again. A few floors later, they gasped as Kane appeared before them again, shaking his head.

"Did you really think a few bullets would kill me? I'm immortal, you idiots!" He slashed out at Claude with his claws, yelling angrily as Sylar pushed out again, shoving him against the wall before he could connect with Claude. "TK, cute!" He started to turn into a mist again as Sylar grinned.

"Think THAT'S cute?" Sylar laughed as he lifted his hand, turning the watery mist into a pile of ice which hovered in mid-air for a moment before crashing to the landing. Sylar kicked the pile of ice off, watching it tumble down the stairs, shattering.

"Good one, Honey." Ava grinned at him.

"That'll buy us a little longer to get the fuck outta Dodge." Sylar glanced up. "Just a couple more floors to go and we can haul ass."

"Just enough time for him to melt and come after us again." Claude pulled out his phone, grinning. "It works!" As they quickly ran up the rest of the stairs, finally reaching the fifteenth floor, Claude shouted to Bennet on the phone. "We're at the hotel! Kane's here! We've held him off so far, thanks to Sylar mainly, but we're going to need an extraction." He looked around. "Probably need to send the Haitian and a few others as well to erase some minds and alter some surveillance footage." He sighed. "What about Hiro?" He nodded. "Okay." He turned the phone off as he ran into his room, Ava and Sylar following him. "We're on our own for the next fifteen minutes. We've got other agents guarding us that are reporting here, but we don't have an extraction team and Hiro's apparently wandering the beach somewhere. Bennet's sent Claire after him to retrieve us."

"We don't have fifteen minutes, Claude." Ava moaned as Claude dashed around his room, quickly throwing his clothes into a bag. "Kane's going to thaw out and be up here for us before then."

"I know." Claude nodded, leading them out of his room and towards theirs.

"And we can't take the stairs or the elevator, so how in the hell are we getting out of here without an extraction team?"

"I've got a plan." Claude pulled out his 'emergency kit' as Ava and Sylar quickly packed their bags. He grabbed Ava's bag, pulling her kit out as well. He turned to Sylar. "Ever rappelled?"

"Repelled?" Sylar nodded. "I could have majored in it in college, considering all the repelling I did."

"NO, RAPELLED!" Claude shook his head. "Base jumping? Mountain climbing? Ever done that?" Sylar's eyes widened as Claude walked out to the balcony, glancing down at the ground. "Not too much foot traffic yet, it's still early. Hopefully too many people won't notice us."

"Notice us doing WHAT?" Sylar turned to Ava as she quickly put a harness on, unwinding rope. "What's THAT for?"

Ava grinned at him. "Wanna fly?"

"EX-fucking-CUSE me?" Sylar gasped as Ava placed a harness around his chest and shoulders. He glanced out at Claude, watching as he put on a harness as well and began to tie rope to the balcony railing. "OH HELL NO!"

"It's fine. You'll be with us and we've done this before, there's nothing to it." Ava grabbed his bag and hers before dragging Sylar out to the balcony. "It's either do this and run, or stay and fight Kane here."

"I just kicked Kane's ass-TWICE!" Sylar shuddered as Ava wrapped a length of rope around their bags and strapped them to her back. "You're kidding me with this, right?"

"No." Ava shook her head.

"Just watch her and follow once she's halfway down." Claude nodded at him. "I'll be here as well giving you a pep talk. Sylar watched in horror as Ava placed a pair of gloves on his hands before putting gloves on her hands. She swung a leg over the balcony rail, and then the other. Sylar watched as she kicked out with her feet, quickly swinging away from them.

"Shit, shit, shit." He whispered, watching as she lowered herself quickly with each swing. He jumped as Claude clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Your turn, she's halfway down."

"No way." Sylar whispered. "We're FIFTEEN stories up!"

"So don't fall, or if you do, aim for the pool." Claude grinned. "Push out with your feet and let go of this rope, let it slide through your hands. Don't go too fast, but don't drag your feet either, time is of the essence. This is your brake." He pointed to a metal object on the other rope. "When you need to stop, squeeze it."

"I hate you right now, you realize that, right?" Sylar asked.

"You just saved my life back there, twice." Claude nodded. "You think I'm going to let you die?" Sylar shook his head. "Kick out with your legs, swing out, let the rope slide through but not too fast. You'll do fine, just don't look down." Claude patted him on the shoulder. "You can do this. I'll be right behind you."

"Okay." Sylar whispered as he swung his legs over the railing. He took a deep breath and kicked out. "SHIIIIIIIITTTTT!"

"GOOD ONE MATE!" He heard Claude yell out as he swung out, letting the rope slide through his hands as he quickly rappelled down the building. A few minutes later, Claude began to climb down as well.

"Don't look down." Sylar whispered to himself as he followed Claude's advice, inching his way down the building as he swung out, getting lower with each swing. After a few terrorizing minutes, he sighed with relief as his feet touched the ground. He grinned as he felt Ava's hands on his shoulders, turning him around. "I did it?" He asked.

"I'm so proud of you." Ava giggled as she kissed him. "How do you feel?"

"I can't decide if I want to smack you and Claude, kiss you both or puke." Sylar gasped. "And I kind of felt like Spiderman."

"Yeah, it's cool, isn't it?" Ava frowned as she looked back up at Claude. He was halfway down. "Hurry." She whispered.

"Oh no." Sylar groaned. Ava's eyes followed his to the balcony they'd just vacated. Kane stood there, waving at them with his claws extended. He reached for the rope that Claude was tethered to.

"CLAUDE HURRY!" Ava shrieked.

Claude looked down at Ava, then back up at the balcony, his face twisting as Kane swiped at his rope. He felt it slacken moments before he began to fall. "That's it. I'm gone." He muttered as he plummeted towards the pavement. He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable, then opened them as he realized that he wasn't so much falling as he was hovering and drifting towards the ground. He turned his head to see Sylar concentrating on him, his hands outstretched, his brow furrowed. Claude pulled him into a hug the moment his feet touched the ground. "YOU are my new best friend!" He hugged him tightly, clapping him on the back.

"I thought about aiming you for the pool, but I figured you'd appreciate landing on the ground more." Sylar smirked.

"Save it for later, you two." Ava pointed to the building as Kane began to quickly follow them, climbing down the walls towards them.

"RUN!" Sylar yelled as Kane leaped out towards them, tackling Sylar and tossing both of them into the pool with his momentum.

"SYLAR!" Ava ran with Claude towards the pool as Sylar and Kane fought, punching each other. Sylar shoved Kane away from him with his TK as he climbed out of the pool and ran with Ava and Claude towards the River Walk.

"Bastard clawed the hell out of me!" Sylar groaned, holding out his hands. His left hand and arm were slashed with jagged cuts.

Ava glanced at them. "They're not too deep." She kissed his cheek. "We've gotta find a place to run."

"There's no running." Kane appeared in front of them, smirking. "Haven't you realized that yet?" He spat venom again, shouting angrily as Sylar pushed it back at him.

"Ava!" Sylar shouted. "Do your thing, Babe!"

Ava glared at Kane, pushing out with her powers as Kane doubled over, grasping his head and chest. "What do you think you're doing, Red?" He moaned. "You can't kill me, remember?"

"No, but I can hurt the hell out of you and buy some time." Ava pushed again, grinning as Kane's head and heart exploded. She groaned as the pieces of his body began to come back together quickly. "Oh, you've GOT to be kidding me!" She moaned as Kane's hands began to twitch.

"We've got to run." Claude grabbed at her arm. "Come on. The parking garage is just down this way."

As they ran past Kane's body, Sylar heard him moan and turned as Kane sat up. "Cute trick. Didn't work." He snarled as he stood up and spat at Sylar again. Sylar blocked the poison, flinging it back one more time.

"When are you going to figure out that I-" Sylar stopped, his eyes widening as Ava turned to him. Sylar turned to Ava as Hiro appeared. "-Oh no."

"Sylar?" Ava grabbed him as he collapsed in her arms. "SYLAR!" She shrieked as Hiro grasped her shoulder and Claude's as Kane charged them.

Moments later they were standing in the farmhouse as Ava cradled Sylar in her arms. Claude knelt beside her as Peter appeared with Bennet, Angela, Kaito and Mohinder. "What's wrong with him, Luv?"

"I don't know." Ava sobbed. She glanced at the hand that Kane had slashed. "Oh no." She noticed the venom that had splashed back on him after flinging it back on Kane. "The venom. It's seeped into his cuts." She looked up at Mohinder as Sylar stopped breathing. "He's down! Do something!" She wailed before lowering Sylar to the ground. She began to perform CPR on him, breathing for him while Claude checked his pulse.

"Heart's stopped." Claude muttered as he began to perform chest compressions.


	24. Chapter 24: The Waiting Game

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Waiting Game

June 9, 2007

Niki paced the floor of the bedroom she'd been sharing with Peter at the Petrelli's beach house in the Hamptons. Checking her watch for the second time in a minute, she sighed and sat on the edge of the bed, staring out at the ocean through the wide window of the bedroom. She frowned, remembering how much she'd gasped over the view the afternoon before. Now, it was getting dark and Peter had been gone for almost twelve hours. As soon as Noah had called him with the news about Sylar, he'd immediately teleported to the farmhouse with Angela and Mohinder, after stopping at the secret location in Tahiti to pick up Kaito and Noah. From there they'd taken everyone to Barrow, Alaska, including Sylar, Ava and Claude. He returned to the beach house for just a quick moment to tell Niki and Candice what was going on before returning to Barrow. The news that Peter had told her was grim. Sylar, Claude and Ava had been attacked by Kane in San Antonio, fighting him off quite a few times before Hiro could teleport to them to take them out of the fight. According to Mohinder, Sylar had fought valiantly, protecting Ava and Claude and saving their lives at least twice, Claude three times before finally being felled by Kane's venom, absorbing it through a cut in his hand. Peter told them that Sylar was being transported to a medical team at the facility in Barrow, the facility they would all be moving to at the end of the weekend. His heart and breathing had stopped, paralyzed by Kane's venom. According to Peter, Sylar had begun having seizures as soon as they'd teleported to Barrow, making the CPR that Ava and Claude had been performing almost impossible.

Niki chewed on a fingernail nervously, looking up as Candice walked into the room, carrying a tub of ice cream. "Hey." Niki smiled softly at her friend.

"Hey." Candice sighed. "No word?" Niki shook her head sadly. Candice's shoulders slumped. "Who would have thought that we'd be sitting here, pacing the floor and stress-eating over Sylar?"

"I never would have thought that would be possible six months ago." Niki turned and stared out at the ocean again. The moon was rising, its faint silver light caught on the waves. "But then there were many things I never would have thought possible six months ago. It's getting late."

"I know." Candice sat beside Niki, handing her a spoon. "I can't imagine what Ava's going through."

"I can." Niki closed her eyes, tears seeping from them.

"D.L." Candice whispered.

"And Peter. I watched D.L. die and watched Peter almost die." Niki shuddered. "I know exactly what Ava's going through right now. She loves Sylar. He doesn't want her to acknowledge it, and they both play it off like they're just a fling, but she loves him. You can see it in the way she looks at him, touches him, protects him. She's probably feeling helpless, wanting to do something, anything to bring him back, make him better." Niki's chin quivered as she spoke. "She's almost definitely going out of her mind with worry, wondering if he'll even pull through and wanting to find Kane and kill him for what he's done to Sylar."

"He can't die." Candice shook her head. "It's in the prophecy. He's the one that we rally around to destroy Kane. He leads us into the battle against him, for crying out loud!"

"Sometimes prophecies were made to be broken." Niki wiped away tears as she turned and dug her spoon into the tub of ice cream. "The future isn't written in stone, Candice."

"Yeah, but it's a PROPHECY, Niki! That's gotta count for something." Candice sighed. "I wish Peter and Mohinder would hurry the hell up and let us know what's going on, even if there's no change. I hate sitting around, waiting."

"You and me both." Niki looked up as Peter appeared in the room. "Oh thank GOD!" She jumped up and hugged him. "What's going on? How's Sylar? How's Ava holding up?"

Peter smiled wanly as Candice jumped up to hug him too. He hugged both of the women and sighed. "It's not good, guys." He kissed Niki's cheek as she sagged against him. "Like I said earlier, he went into seizures after we arrived in Barrow. Ava and Claude worked on him with CPR, trying to breathe for him and keep his heart pumping as he shook on the table. The doctors there started an IV and injected him with sedatives to stop the seizures. It worked. Then, while Ava and Claude continued the CPR, the doctors hooked Sylar to a heart/lung bypass machine. It wasn't pretty. They had to cut deep into Sylar's arm and thigh to hook into the arteries there."

"But how is he NOW?" Niki asked.

"He's comatose. They did an EEG a while ago to check brain function. It was slow, but steady. His brain's still working and they don't think he was deprived of any oxygen, thanks to Ava and Claude, but they'll know more after he comes around. They're testing his blood every couple of hours to see if he's metabolizing the venom. Once it's out of his system, they'll unhook him from the machines and try to restart his heart."

"Oh God." Niki shook her head. "So when should the venom be out of his system?"

Peter shrugged. "They don't know. He's not metabolizing it fast enough for them. One of the doctors said that they'll give him another six hours and if it's not out, they'll try to hook him up for dialysis and filter the venom out of his blood that way. They don't want him on the bypass machine for very long. I don't blame them. The machines can cause a lot of problems and complications if a patient is on it for too long."

"How's Ava?" Niki asked.

Peter sighed. "She won't leave his side and Claude won't leave hers. We've tried begging her to take a nap for the last few hours, but she refuses to leave him, even for a moment. She hasn't eaten all day and she looks like she's about to fall over. Claude said she didn't get much sleep last night and with all of the excitement today, she's pretty drained."

"And stubborn." Candice shook her head. "So she won't leave him."

"No." Peter kissed Niki's cheek again. "I need to get back. I knew you two were both probably about to climb the walls for an update."

"Tell Ava to get some sleep and that my thoughts are with her." Niki nodded.

"I will." Peter kissed her again and turned to Candice. "Mohinder's okay too, he's just bitching about the cold when he's not trying to help us convince Ava to lie down. We're going to offer to watch over Sylar in shifts and get her if there's any change. She refused earlier, but I think Claude's about to wear her down."

Candice sighed. "Okay. Tell Mohinder I love him and tell Ava I'm pulling for her."

"Will do." Peter smiled as he stepped away from the women, quickly disappearing from the room again.

Niki sat on the bed, grabbing a spoonful of ice cream. "So that's that." She sighed.

Candice sat beside her. "Yeah." She glanced over at Niki. "He's gotta pull through, Nik."

"I know." Niki whispered.

"I don't want to face Kane without Sylar. He kicked that guy's ass three times and yet he still kept coming back. That scares the hell out of me. I mean, Sylar's got all these different powers and yet he still couldn't defeat Kane in the end? If he can't do it, how are WE and how can we even TRY without him there? I mean, at least Sylar was able to fight him off for a while. Kane's so powerful."

Niki nodded, not speaking as she closed her eyes, shuddering at the idea of facing Kane after everything she'd heard about him.

* * *

July 12, 2004

Emilio and his men led Ava and Simon through the jungles of Columbia, finally stopping as it grew dark. Ava stared at Emilio as they halted. "Are we there?"

Emilio glanced at her nervously. "Through the vines, a half-mile ahead. I won't lead you any further and neither will my men."

"Oh?" Ava raised an eyebrow at him. "And why not?"

"If Senor or Senora Vasquez found out we led you this far instead of killing you out right, they'll kill us." Emilio stared at the ground. "We fear you, but we fear them too. You promised me we'd live if we brought you here."

"I did." Ava nodded. "You'd better not go running in there and telling them that we're coming."

"I won't." Emilio glanced up at her again. "They'll know you're coming. They have other sentinels out there that will find you."

"They won't have them for long." Simon smirked.

"Go on." Ava sighed. "Get out of here and don't ever come back."

"No, we certainly won't." Emilio turned to his men, nodding to them. Ava watched as they quickly disappeared into the darkness.

"They're pretty scared of the Juarez couple." Ava whispered.

"I'm more scared of you." Ava turned to see Simon studying her. "So you make people see their worst fears and desires, eh?"

"I manipulate the psionic field. It's sort of a catch-all power, I guess you could say. As I've already said, I can sense someone's deepest fears and desires and make them project it. I can also manipulate someone's heart rate and blood pressure, causing them to die of a heart attack or stroke, or even cause their head or heart to explode. When I really get going, I can also throw large objects around, but I haven't done that since the night I manifested."

Simon whistled softly. "That must have been quite a scene you caused when you first manifested, before you were taught to control your powers."

Ava frowned, staring at the ground sadly. "Yeah. It was quite a scene alright." She looked up at Simon. "And you're a walking bomb."

"I am." Simon started walking with Ava again. They quickly got off of the path that had been shown to them by Emilio, opting instead to climb around vines to avoid guards. "So a half-mile in this direction?"

Ava nodded. "That's what he said." She glanced over at Simon. "I have a plan."

"I'm sure you do." Simon smiled at her. "Let's hear it."

* * *

June 9, 2007

Peter appeared in the hallways of the Primatech base outside of Barrow, Alaska. He looked around the halls, frowning. The building wasn't created for aesthetics, that was for sure. The walls were the dull grey of the thick, heavy cinderblocks it had been built from to shield its inhabitants from the bitter cold of the Alaskan tundra outside. Even in June, the highest temperature would barely reach forty degrees Fahrenheit. Now, as night began to grow near, it was closer to thirty degrees outside, windy and freezing. Peter shivered as he passed a window, staring at the white, barren landscape outside. The building was heated and warm as he walked towards the medical wing, but he still felt cold inside, wondering if Sylar would make it through his ordeal. He entered the medical wing, nodding to Noah Bennet and Kaito Nakamura before entering Sylar's critical care room, ignoring his mother as she sat beside the two men, glaring imperiously at the door. Peter hadn't spoken to his mother since he'd overheard her conversation with her fellow board directors. He was too angry with her to do anything other than yell at her at the moment, something he knew wouldn't work.

As he entered Sylar's room, Mohinder and Claude looked up at him from the chairs they sat in beside Sylar's bed. Sylar lay on a gurney, comatose. Tubes ran into his arm and leg, pumping his blood into a bypass machine to be oxygenated before being pumped back into his body. Claude looked at Peter and then turned to Ava. Peter followed Claude's eyes to her. She stood beside Sylar's bed, clutching his hand in hers, gripping it tightly as she stroked his hair and face with her other hand. Her face was pale and tight with worry, her red-rimmed eyes refusing to leave Sylar's face, even for a moment. Peter walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her waist as he gently kissed her cheek. "Hey, Red." He whispered.

"Hey." Her voice sounded as exhausted as she looked.

"Niki and Candice wanted me to let you know that they're pulling for him, okay?"

"Okay. You saw them? You left?" She whispered.

"Just for a moment, to let them know what's going on here." Peter smiled softly at her. He cleared his throat. "Ava-"

"-I'm not leaving him so save your breath, okay?" Ava refused to look anywhere but at Sylar's face as her hand tightened around his. "I'm not leaving his side. He knows I'm here, he has to know."

"I know he knows Sweetie, but-"

"-I'm not leaving." Ava shook her head slowly.

"You're exhausted, Ava." Claude stood and walked over to her other side, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear. "We'll watch over him in shifts, Luv. Me, Peter, Mohinder, we'll all watch over him and come and get you the minute there's any change."

"I can't leave him. I won't." Ava's lips trembled as a tear slid down her cheek. "What if he-?" She shook her head. "-I can't leave his side."

"He's not going anywhere, I won't let him." Claude smiled at her. "Little sod saved my life three times today from Kane. You think I'll let someone who's saved my life that much in that short amount of time die?"

"No." Ava sniffled. "You wouldn't."

"And when he comes around, and he WILL Darling, he's going to need you. What good do you think you'll be to him if you're dead on your feet, eh? He's going to need you awake and fully rested to wait on him hand and foot. You know he's going to milk this bloody bit for all it's worth, right?" Claude chuckled. "You know he's going to pretend to be all feeble and weak to make you dote on him, expecting you to feed him and give him sponge baths." Claude teased her, smiling to get a soft laugh out of her. "And we're going to need you awake and alert for that because God knows I'm not going to bathing the bloke, no matter how many times he saved my life."

"Not that he'd want you bathing him anyway." Ava smiled.

"Come on, I'll show you to the room you two will be shagging in after he wakes up from his bit of beauty sleep, eh? The walls are thick as hell, so you two will be able to whoop it up in there without bothering a single one of us. You'll get some rest and the moment the doctors think he's ready to be woke up, one of us will come and get you so you're the first one he sees when he comes around. You want him to see you all teary and tired and looking like you've been dragged through a bush backwards, or looking like your normal, beautiful self?"

Peter nodded. "After I brought you guys here, I went back to the farmhouse to get the rest of the supplies. I also got everyone's bedding. I put your blankets and pillows in your room. The room isn't much, but the bed is big and it looks really comfortable. The blankets will be familiar, you'll be able to get some rest. You need it, Ava."

Ava choked back a sob and nodded. "I'll take a quick nap."

"Good girl." Claude patted her back. "I'll walk you there, okay?"

"Okay." She whispered. She kissed Sylar's hand before letting it go and leaned down to his face. Stroking his hair, she kissed him, her lips traveling quickly to his ear. "Don't you dare leave me." She whispered. Straightening up, she touched his hand again. "He finally told me he loved me last night. He finally said it out loud. He loves me."

"I know he does." Peter nodded.

Ava leaned back down to Sylar. "I love you too. Stay here, stay with me, please."

"Come on, Puss." Claude took her arm and guided her out of the room.

"Swear to me you'll come and get me the minute there's any change."

"Have I ever broken a promise to you yet?" Claude led her through the hallways of the facility, finally turning to the housing wing. He led Ava down the hall to the room that had been designated as hers and Sylar's. Opening the door, Claude walked with Ava to the bed. Peter hadn't just brought their bedding to the room, he'd made the bed for them. Ava sat on the edge of the bed, her expression blank as Claude knelt down and pulled off her shoes and socks. "Come on Kiddo, lie down for a while." Ava nodded mutely and lay back as Claude pulled the covers back and then dotingly tucked them around her. "The moment the doctors say they're going to bring him around, I'll run down here quick as lightning to get you."

"Okay." Ava whispered.

"Sleep tight." Claude kissed her forehead and walked out of the room, turning off the light and closing the door as he left.

Ava rolled over, digging through the pillows until she found one of Sylar's. Clutching it to her chest, she took a deep breath, inhaling it as she remembered how quickly he'd fallen into her arms, his body paralyzed by Kane's venom. She remembered how helpless she'd felt as she'd breathed for him, filling his lungs with air as she begged him to hang on and live and she remembered the way his body began to jerk and shake as they'd arrived at this facility in the barren Alaskan tundra, wracked with seizures as his body reacted violently to the venom that had seeped into the cut on his hand. Clutching the pillow tighter, she fought against those images, trying to remember how it had felt to make love to him less that twenty-four hours ago. Pretending that the pillow she was clinging to was Sylar, she finally drifted off to sleep, crying as she dozed.

* * *

July 12, 2004

The Juarez compound in the jungle consisted of a variety of shacks grouped together in a clearing. Men milled around, rifles slung across their backs as they patrolled around the shacks and the coca and poppy fields that were hidden in the forest beyond them. The guards noticed the redhead right away as she calmly strode into the clearing, her hands raised above her head. Yelling in Spanish, they ran towards her with their weapons drawn, pointing them at her. Ava smiled tightly. "I come unarmed. I've been sent by The Company to speak with Enrique and Monica Juarez. I have a message for them concerning the agents they killed recently."

"A message for us?" Ava glanced over the men's shoulders as a middle-aged man and woman approached her. The man glared at her, his dark eyes glittering behind a thick, bushy beard. "And they sent you?" He laughed softly.

His wife joined in his laughter. She was petite and wiry, her long dark hair hanging down her back in a thick braid. "Do they not know what we did to the last people they sent here? Did they not get the package we sent?"

Ava nodded. "Oh, they got it alright, that's why they sent me."

Monica laughed harder. "They sent a little American girl to us? And just what exactly did they expect YOU to do?"

Ava smiled, her eyes sparkling. "Oh, they just wanted to send a message, like I just told you."

"Oh?" Enrique smirked. "What kind of message?" He jumped as buildings began to blow up behind them. "WHAT THE FUCK?" He turned back to Ava. "Did you do that?"

Ava shook her head slowly. "No, I'm about to do this." As she raised an eyebrow, the men training guns on her began to scream, dropping their weapons as they fell to the ground, clutching their heads as blood poured from their noses. Monica shrieked and backed away while Enrique stood his ground. Ava glared at them. "You really shouldn't have killed those agents. And you really should have used your talents for something worthwhile, both of you."

"Like using them to convince others to join your cause, or my wife using hers to help feed the world?" Enrique spat on the ground. "What money is in something like that?"

"You chose money over your lives." Ava smirked. "Foolish." Enrique began to back away as Ava stared at him, screaming as he turned and ran away from her, his wife chasing behind him. They barely made it a few steps before both of them collapsed, their heads exploding. Ava began to walk slowly through the compound, letting her power flow through her as others ran towards her with guns, then backed away, screaming as their noses began to spout blood, others collapsing as their heads or hearts exploded.

From his vantage point in the jungle, Simon stopped blowing up buildings to watch the destruction Ava created, his mouth dropping open in shock. After a few minutes, she collapsed on the ground, their attackers lying around her, dead. Simon looked around nervously as Ava began to cry and finally crept out of the jungle towards her. She yelped in shock as he touched her arm and he backed away, feeling a quick twinge of pain in his head before she realized who he was. "Ava?" His voice was filled with fear as Ava began to cry harder, noticing the blood that had started to trickle out of his nose. Simon sighed and knelt beside her, touching her shoulder. He gasped in surprise as she flung herself into his arms, sobbing. "Shhhh, it's okay."

"The last time I unleashed like this-" Ava shook her head "-and I almost killed you too, and-"

"-But you didn't." Simon smiled as he touched her cheek. "You've got more control over your power than you think. You stopped yourself before you killed me, yes?" Ava nodded slowly as Simon stood up, gently helping her stand beside him. "It's a terrifying power, isn't it?"

"It is." Ava whispered.

"But you use it for good. They didn't and they paid the price." Simon brushed a clump of red hair away from Ava's cheek. "You look tired, finally."

"When I unleash like this, it wears me out pretty quickly. It did when I was a teenager too."

"I'll bet." Simon took her arm. "I don't think I blew up all of their jeeps. What do you say to us leaving here in style, huh?" Simon laughed softly as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, walking with her towards a jeep. "We'll drive back to get our things and head back to Bogota." He sighed. "I'd like to be able to sleep in an actual bed and take a shower."

"And eat something besides jerky or an MRE."

"Yes indeed." Simon helped her into the jeep before climbing up beside her. "Maybe now you'll let me take you to dinner?" He grinned as Ava nodded quietly. "And you'll let me do this." He leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips.

Ava frowned, touching her lips. "What was that for?"

Simon raised an eyebrow. "I've always wondered what it would feel like to kiss a woman more powerful than I was. It's quite intoxicating."

"Huh." Ava shrugged and looked away, praying that Simon wouldn't notice how quickly her cheeks were turning red as he cranked up the jeep and began to drive away.

* * *

June 10, 2007

Peter rolled over in his bed at his room at the Barrow compound and realized he wasn't alone. Sitting up, he turned on a light, rubbing his eyes. "Mohinder? That you? Time for my shift?" He glared as he realized it was his mother sitting on the edge of the bed. "You." He shook his head. "I'm not talking to you."

"Then you'll listen." Angela stared at her hands as they rested in her lap, folded demurely. "You overheard something you weren't supposed to overhear and then read my mind to get information you weren't supposed to get."

"It's not like it was on purpose." Peter muttered.

"You need to understand-"

"-Understand WHAT?" Peter sat up, his eyes narrowing. "Understand that you're planning on double-crossing Sylar after Kane's defeated? Do you want me to understand that you're planning on forcing the woman who loves him, the woman who has spent this day worrying herself sick over him, to KILL him? Do you want me to understand that you pulled strings to get her to watch over him with the sole intention of making her kill him once he'd served his little purpose with you? You pushed them together and then you prodded her to continue to pursue him and fall in love with him even more after he got his memory back, you even encouraged it, and all the while you KNEW you were going to make her kill him when this was over. You do realize what even telling her to kill him will do to her, right?"

"She's an agent first, last and always. She'll understand that Sylar's survival is not for the greater good." Angela looked at him coolly. "He's tried to kill Claire, he's killed you on more than one occasion. He preys on people like us, people with power. Do you honestly think that love will make him forget his craving for powers when this is over with? His wishes to be an agent? It's just lip service. He just wants to pull the wool over our eyes and his because he's in love."

"Love can change people, Mother."

"It didn't change your father, or Linderman, or Kaito, or Bob or Victoria or any of the others. It didn't change me." Angela sighed. "You're young and naïve and idealistic, you haven't seen the worst of the world yet. I have. Sylar might want to change and he may change for a while, but love doesn't last forever. His feelings for Avery will cool and when it does, he'll want something to supplant that feeling he had for her. He'll go back to killing because it's the only thing besides Avery's love that has truly made him feel special and powerful and he'll start with killing the woman who diverted his attentions away from that in the first place, then he'll move on to the rest of us."

"You don't know that." Peter glared at her.

"Yes, unfortunately I do." Angela stood up slowly, her shoulders sagging. "And deep down, you do and Avery does. She'll cry, she'll be hurt and devastated, but in the end, she'll kill him. She'll understand that it has to be done and she'll find a way to love again. She has before."

"You're a sick, twisted, evil woman." Peter shook his head. "I really hate you right now."

"But you know I'm right."

"Do I?" Peter climbed out of bed and approached her. "What if I went to Ava now and told her your plans? What if I went to Sylar when he wakes up and told him as well?"

"He'll snap out of his fairy tale with Ava sooner rather than later, kill us all and then be killed by Kane." Angela raised an eyebrow. "And then Kane will continue to travel the world and live forever, killing others while collecting their powers and ultimately making himself the most powerful, and most deranged person in the world. Would it be worth it to tell Sylar about my plans after knowing all of that?"

"He might not come after all of us, he might just come after you."

"No." Angela sighed. "He'd come after us all. He'd view all of us as cut from the same cloth, a pack of liars and double-crossers." She smiled sadly. "You'll keep this quiet. You'll keep it to yourself because you know I'm right." She turned and walked out of the room as Peter shook his head and sat back down on his bed.

"Damn you." He whispered, burying his face in his hands. "I won't let you do this to them." He groaned and looked up as someone knocked on the door. "WHAT?" He yelled.

Claude poked his head in the door, frowning at him. "Someone's a grumpy gus." He cocked his head down the hall. "Docs say that Sylar's metabolized the venom. They're about to disconnect him from bypass and try to revive him. Wanna come get Ava with me?"

Peter nodded, running his fingers through his hair. "Yeah. I'm right behind you." He got up and followed Claude down the hall to Ava's room.

Claude knocked on the door and walked into the room, turning on a light as he did so. Ava sat up quickly, her eyes filling with tears. Claude held out his hands and shook his head. "It's good news. They're taking him off bypass and trying to revive him now."

"Right NOW?" Ava threw back the covers and jumped out of bed, pushing Claude and Peter aside as she ran down the hall towards the medical wing.

"You could do with putting on some fucking shoes first!" Claude sighed. "Impetuous girl!" He laughed and elbowed Peter in the ribs. "Girl's got it bad, eh?"

Peter nodded. "Yeah, she does." He sighed and followed Claude as he ran down the hall after Ava. They arrived in the medical wing and went to Sylar's room as the doctors unhooked him from the bypass machine. One doctor placed an oxygen mask on Sylar's face, forcing air into his lungs as the other doctor prepared a needle with adrenaline. Peter, Ava and Claude winced as the doctor jabbed Sylar in the chest with the needle, injecting the adrenaline directly into his heart before turning to a defibrillator and grabbing the paddles.

"Two hundred fifty joules." The doctor placed the paddles against Sylar's chest. "Clear." The other doctor stepped away as Sylar jerked, electricity flowing through him. Sylar's eyes flew open as he gasped, the heart monitor behind him suddenly beeping as his heart began to beat.

"Sylar!" Ava quickly rushed to him as he looked around the room, his eyes wild as he panted. She leaned over the bed rails, touching his face as his eyes met hers. "Hey."

Sylar licked his lips, his eyes darting around the room before settling on Ava again. "Hey." He croaked.

Ava began to cry as she lowered the rails and sat on the bed beside him, stroking his cheek. "Welcome back."

"Where the fuck am I?" Sylar closed his eyes for a moment. "I need water." He stared up at Ava as Mohinder walked towards him with a glass of water. "Wow, you look like shit."

Ava laughed and shook her head, taking the water from Mohinder. She supported Sylar's head with one hand as she held the glass with the other. "Look who's talking. Here." She let him take a few gulps before pulling the glass away and setting it aside. Leaning down, she kissed his cheek and smiled at him. "I know I'm going to heaven now."

"Why's that?" Sylar raised an eyebrow.

"Because you scared the HELL out of me." Ava shook her head. "Don't do that again."

Sylar smiled at her. "Trust me, I'm going to try not to." He reached out and took Ava's hand in his, looking up into her eyes as he squeezed it gently. "Now will you please tell me what in the blue fuck is going on around here? What happened and where am I?"

"Long story." Ava grinned.

"It appears that I have time." Sylar grinned back.

Peter leaned against a wall in the room beside Claude, smiling at the sight of the two lovers reuniting. He noticed the way that Ava looked down at Sylar, her face filled with love and devotion and saw the same emotions mirrored in Sylar's face. He stared at the floor, shame flooding him as he thought about what his mother was plotting. Looking up, he saw Angela as she stood at an observation window, watching Sylar and Ava with a gleam of triumph in her eyes. Peter glared at her for a moment before his eyes widened, noticing the way Kaito and Noah glared at her as well, their expressions filled with anger and loathing for her.

Peter looked away, smiling as a new plan began to form in his mind. He remembered the words that Charles Deveaux had once told him and nodded. "Love will change the world." He whispered.


	25. Chapter 25: One of Us

Chapter Twenty-Five: One of Us

June 10, 2007

Niki stirred as she felt someone approaching the bed and rolled over. "Micah, you need a glass of water?"

"Not Micah." Niki sat up and smiled as Peter turned on a light, smiling sheepishly at her as he pulled off his clothes and climbed into bed. "I was hoping I wouldn't wake you."

"I'm glad you did." Niki kissed him. "How are things in the Arctic North?"

"Sylar's awake. He'll be out of commission for a couple of days, but he's going to make a full recovery."

"Oh thank GOD!" Niki sighed with relief. "I'm sure Ava's feeling better."

"Yeah." Peter nodded, his expression growing grim.

"What is it?" Niki sat up straight. "You know, even before you got the call that Sylar was injured, you were in a weird mood. What's going on?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Peter frowned. "I shouldn't talk about it."

"Maybe I can help." Niki touched his cheek and smiled softly. "Two heads are better than one when it comes to figuring out a problem."

Peter glanced nervously at the bedroom door. "I overheard something I shouldn't have overheard, something I didn't WANT to hear." He sighed. "And now I'm torn. I don't know what to do, Nik."

"Tell me about it, please." Niki shook her head. "Whatever it is, I want to try and help, or at least listen."

Peter nodded. "This can't leave this room, got it?" Niki nodded slowly as Peter took a deep breath. "Years ago, Mom was a part of a group of people with special abilities, they were sort of a Justice League back in their day. They're still in touch, they're the board members of the OWI."

"Okay." Niki's eyes widened slowly. "Continue."

Peter struggled for words. "I overheard Mom doing something, planning something, something that could cause a lot of heartache for Ava and Sylar . . . "

Niki listened as Peter spoke, his voice soft and low as he finally told what he'd overheard.

* * *

July 12, 2004

Simon stopped in a clearing for the night, rubbing his eyes sleepily. He glanced over at Ava as she sat beside him, staring out into the darkness of the jungle. Since they'd left what remained of the Juarez compound, she had been completely silent. "I think this is a good place to stop for the night, yes?"

"Sure." Ava nodded numbly. "So now that we've got a jeep to get us to our OTHER jeep, how long until we're back in Bogota?"

"We should reach the jeep we left before we started our hike by noon if we leave here at sunrise. After that, we should reach Bogota by late tomorrow night."

"Good." Ava sighed. "I'm probably needed in Texas. I know my boss-" She closed her eyes "-I'm sure he's just DYING to know how the mission went and wishing I'd hurry back."

"Are you seeing him?" Simon frowned.

"No." Ava grimaced. "I'm not seeing him." She climbed out of the jeep and grabbed their camping supplies. Simon helped her as she silently set up the tent and built a small fire. As they sat down beside the fire to heat up a quick meal, she glanced over at him. "Are you feeling okay? I didn't hit you with my power too hard or anything, did I?"

"No, not at all." Simon smiled. "I had a small headache for about an hour afterwards, but it's gone now. My nose stopped bleeding rather quickly as well."

"I'm sorry about that." Ava shook her head. "I guess I'm not as in control of my power as I thought I was."

"You're more in control of it than you probably used to be. You stopped it from destroying me, didn't you?"

"Barely." Ava whispered. "I was still in shock I guess. You startled me."

"And for that I'm sorry. I worried about you when you collapsed, that's all."

"It took a lot out of me." Ava shrugged and changed the subject. "I swear, the first thing I'm going to when I get back to my hotel room is take a long, hot bath."

"And the second thing?" Simon smiled at her.

"Eat something that doesn't come processed and wrapped in plastic or stored in a tin can." Ava laughed.

Simon laughed with her. "Well, I can't do anything about the food, but you can bathe here."

"Yeah, right." Ava snorted.

"You can! Why do you think I parked HERE for the night?" Simon leaned forward. "Listen." Ava strained to listen to the sounds of the jungle and shook her head, frowning at Simon. "Do you not hear the running water? There's a small pool of water near here, fed by a waterfall."

"Uh-huh." Ava sat back, narrowing her eyes at Simon. "And there aren't any piranhas or anacondas around?"

"I know this area of the jungle well." Simon smiled. "My parents had a place near here. I grew up around this area. It was before the Juarez couple took it over and turned it into the hiding place for their drug cartel. There are no piranhas in the water and the anacondas will leave you alone, I promise."

"You grew up around here?" Ava frowned as Simon looked away, his expression turning dark.

"Yes. Before Enrique and Juanita Juarez took over, there was a village nearby. I left after I manifested and was recruited by the company, but my parents stayed. My father died of a heart attack soon after I left, but my mother and brother continued to live here. Then, Enrique and Juanita came into power here about fifteen years ago. My mother had a power, you see. She was unable to be turned by Enrique's words, unable to be swayed to allow the drug cartel to continue here like nothing was happening and she refused to allow my younger brother Ricardo to become one of their drug mules. She was able to convince the others in the village to finally ignore Enrique as well and try to push him out." Simon closed his eyes. "But the villagers and my family were no match for their machine guns. Everyone was gunned down and tossed into a mass grave together. I found out what happened a few weeks later when word of the massacre finally reached Bogota where I have been living since my recruitment. I came here and found all of their bodies and swore revenge."

"You volunteered for this, didn't you?" Ava stared at him.

"Yes." Simon ground his teeth, muscles in his jaw jumping. "I volunteered for the first mission as well, but I was denied. Mr. Linderman agreed to let me come with you this time. He said that I deserved vengeance, not only for my fellow fallen agents, but for my family as well."

"I'm sorry." Ava blinked back tears as she reached out and squeezed his hand. "I didn't know."

"Vengeance has been taken tonight. I'm glad they're dead. I'm glad their whole organization is dead." Simon looked at Ava, his eyes blazing. "And I'm glad you made them suffer. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Ava slowly stood up and reached into her bag, pulling out a change of clothes and a bar of soap. "The pool?"

"I'll show you." Simon held up his hands as Ava balked. "I'll stand watch with my back to you while you bathe if you do the same for me, yes?"

Ava sighed and nodded. "Fine." She followed Simon into the jungle, staying close to him as animals called out into the dark night. Her eyes widened as they entered a clearing, the light of the half-moon shining down on it. "Wow." She breathed. A small waterfall poured into an equally small pool of water, the size of a swimming pool. Ava turned to Simon. "You used to visit here a lot?"

"I swam here with my brother quite a bit. It's perfectly safe, I assure you. It's not very deep though, so no diving in headfirst, yes?"

"Sure." Ava nodded as she pulled off her hiking boots. Simon quickly turned his back to her as she pulled off the rest of her clothes, leaving her underwear on. Glancing at Simon over her shoulder, Ava slipped into the warm water, sighing with pleasure as she began to quickly wash herself off. Dunking her head underwater, she washed her hair, rinsing it off in the waterfall before climbing back out near Simon. "I'm out." She said.

"And I'm going in." Simon smiled down at her as he quickly pulled his clothes off. Ava looked away, feeling her face grow hot as he stripped completely down before jumping into the water with a yell. She looked around, keeping a watch out for animals as Simon swam for a few minutes. He neared her, smiling up at her. "Sure you don't want to come back in?"

"I'm sure." Ava looked away. "I'm just trying to dry off a bit before I put the clean clothes back on."

"It's rather boring swimming alone." Simon teased.

"I'm keeping a watch out for animals."

"They won't bother us." Simon reached out, taking her hand. "Come into the water."

Ava pulled her hand away quickly and stood up, grabbing her clothes. "If you're almost finished, I'm going to get dressed and wait for you to get out, okay?"

Simon backed away, his smile fading. "Fine. I'll get out too." He looked at her sadly as he climbed out of the water and pulled his clothes back on. Ava kept her back to him, scanning the jungle as she dressed and finally turned to him.

"Let's get back." She whispered, walking behind him as he led her back to their campsite.

* * *

June 10, 2007

Niki shook her head as Peter finished his story. "So when this is all over-"

"-Ava's going to be ordered to kill Sylar." Peter lay back against the pillows, closing his eyes. "The board members have all voted."

"How many are there?" Niki asked.

"Nine, including Mom and Kaito." Peter shrugged. "I think I've met a few of them, I don't know. Mom and Dad had them over to the house quite a bit. I remember a guy with glasses named Bob and a redhead named Victoria. I think her last name was Pratt or Platt, something in that ballpark. She was a scientist, I think."

"Hmmm." Niki lay next to Peter. "And they've all agreed that Sylar has to go?"

"There was a little dissention in the ranks, but the majority ruled. Mom inherited Dad's voting proxy, as well as Linderman's. Kaito wasn't informed of the vote, but with Mom, Bob and a couple of the others voting to kill, he wouldn't have made a dent anyway."

"Who inherited Charles Deveaux's proxy?"

"I don't know." Peter sighed. "A relative of his, I didn't catch her name. She voted against killing Sylar. Victoria did too." He turned and stared at Niki. "Why?"

"You only know the names of two of the others?"

"Yeah, as far as I can remember." Peter nodded. "I guess I need to hang out with Sylar when he's using his eidetic memory so I can pick that up, huh?"

"Better do it soon, apparently." Niki rolled her eyes. "It just seems so-" She struggled for words.

"-Sordid?" Peter asked.

"YES!" Niki nodded and then frowned deeper. "He's trusting us to do right by him when this is over. He's been talking about wanting to join us and be an agent and-" she shook her head "-I can SEE where your mother and the elders are coming from, but it's not right. I know he has the potential to go after us later and kill every one of us when this is over, but he TRUSTS us to do right by him. We should trust him to offer us the same courtesy with OUR lives."

"I know." Peter lay back on his pillows and stared up at the ceiling. "In a way, Mom's right, but-" he closed his eyes "-I want to believe that Sylar is telling the truth. I want to believe that Sylar is being straight with us, that he wants to try and turn over a new leave. I want to believe that his love for Ava and his will to live a good life for once is stronger than his need to kill."

"Ava." Niki whispered.

"I know." Peter closed his eyes. "And that's the worst part of all of this, worse than us double-crossing Sylar, worse than lying, it's the fact that Ava's going to be forced to pull the trigger on him."

"She won't do it." Niki shook her head as she lay beside Peter, her head resting on his shoulder. "She'd never kill him now. She's way too in love with him."

"She's killed someone she was in love with before on the company's orders."

"This is different. She was a teenager at the time, and she'd barely been with the guy for a month. She's been living and sleeping with Sylar for over six months. She's even said that she loves him more than she loved that Brighton guy."

"When did she say that?"

Niki giggled. "Actually she didn't SAY it, she thought it around Matt and he told me."

"She may not have a choice but to kill him. They've told Mom that Ava will be ordered to either kill Sylar when Kane is defeated, or die beside him."

Niki sighed. "She's not going to go for that."

"Which part?" Peter rolled over to face her, raising an eyebrow.

"Either part." Niki rolled over to face Peter. "She's pretty powerful and so is Sylar. If those two teamed up together against all of us-"

"-We'd have a seriously rough fight on our hands."

"A fight we probably wouldn't win, Pete." Niki frowned. "The two of them together could easily kill us all. Hell, Ava alone could probably kill off quite a few of us before we knew what was happening."

"You're right." Peter nodded. "So what the hell do we do?"

Niki shook her head. "I don't know, Baby. What your mother and the other elders want, it's not just unethical and immoral, but it could open a can of worms that they don't WANT opened. If Ava knows who they are, or she finds out and goes rogue with Sylar-"

"-They could kill them all." Peter sighed. "I don't want Sylar killed, Niki."

"I never thought I'd hear myself saying this, but I don't want him dead either. You're right, he's been too useful. He's become one of us. I just don't see him turning against us now, unless we all gave him a good reason. Unfortunately, if he ever finds out what your mother has planned, that'll become his reason."

"So we have to find a way to save Sylar without him finding out what's going on?" Peter asked.

"Maybe." Niki rolled over onto her back to stare at the ceiling. "Who else around here knows about this, besides you, your mother, Kaito and Noah?"

"No one, yet." Peter shrugged. "I wouldn't be too surprised if Kaito ends up consulting Hiro, who'll bring Ando into it. Matt will probably find out before long by reading someone's mind."

"Who do you think would be with us and against the idea of killing Sylar?"

"Well, Kaito obviously. Noah didn't seem too happy to hear about the plan either, for the same reasons that I don't like it. He doesn't want to double-cross someone who is trying to change and be sincere and he doesn't want Ava to suffer any more than she already has. Claude would be against it for the same reasons, along with the fact that Sylar saved his life yesterday three times."

"Candice would probably be against it." Niki nodded. "She was pretty worried about him tonight."

"And she could probably convince Mohinder that killing Sylar would be wrong, even if he still wants revenge for his father's murder." Peter frowned. "Maybe she could convince him." He turned to Niki as she continued to stare up at the ceiling, her eyes glittering. "Uh-oh, I know that look. You're already plotting something, aren't you?"

Niki smiled softly. "Busted. Yes, I was just thinking that, with enough of us standing between the Company and Ava and Sylar, those two crazy kids could end up surviving." She glanced over at Peter. "I mean, they wouldn't be willing to kill ALL of us, just to go after one killer, right?"

"Possibly." Peter nodded. "If you, me, Candice, Mo, Hiro, Kaito, Claude and Noah all stood up against them, they might actually back down. It would either be that, or they'd lose more than just a killer who's trying to reform and an agent who'd be threatening to go rogue."

"Exactly." Niki turned to Peter. "Sylar and Ava need to be told what's going on. We need to tell them Pete, and tell them that they're not alone and that they have people willing to stand up for them. I think Sylar and Ava could be trusted to keep this under their hats and continue to fight alongside us if we're honest with them from the beginning."

"True. If Sylar found out about the plan later and that we knew about it, he could seriously lose his shit. I don't think us telling him then 'oh we knew about it and we've been trying to stop it from the beginning, honestly' is going to hold much water with him."

Niki nodded. "He'll just think we're covering our asses if we wait to tell him."

"True." Peter sighed. "So when do we tell them?"

"As soon as we can." Niki snuggled beside Peter. "When Sylar's recovered a bit more, I think."

"Okay." Peter kissed Niki passionately, pulling her closer as she began to pull off the tank top she'd been sleeping in.

* * *

July 13, 2004

"We're back." Ava lifted her head, rubbing her eyes as she looked around, confused. Simon tapped her shoulder and smiled softly at her. "We're back in Bogota."

"Oh." Ava blinked as she realized they were parked outside of her hotel. "What time is it?"

"Almost midnight." Simon nodded. "Told you that I'd have you back by now."

"You did." Ava reached behind the seat to grab her bag, flinching as Simon quickly grasped her shoulder. "What?"

"I know it's late, but there are still quite a few restaurants open this time of evening. I'm sure you've heard of siesta?" Ava nodded, her eyes narrowing as Simon smiled at her. "During the afternoon, most businesses close down to avoid the heat of the day. They reopen in the evening and stay open until very late at night. You said that the first thing you wanted to do when you returned to Bogota was eat something real, besides canned foods or an MRE. Care to join me for a very late dinner?"

Ava shook her head. "Actually, I think I'd rather do the other thing I said I'd do when I returned to Bogota. I'm going to take a very long bath and sleep in a real bed."

"Want company?" Simon's smile faded as Ava shook her head again, her eyes growing flinty as she glared at him.

"I do better alone." She pulled her pack from behind her seat and began to climb out of the jeep. She froze at Simon's next six words.

"I'm falling in love with you." He whispered.

Ava slowly turned to him, her expression murderous. "Too fucking bad. This thing that you feel? This connection you seem to think we have? It's stupid and it doesn't exist. I'm going into that hotel, I'm going to my room and I'm going to sleep after I take a bath. Tomorrow I'm leaving for Texas. You and I are never going to happen, so get over it." She quickly turned to walk away.

"NO!" Simon jumped out of the jeep and chased her down. "I will not accept that. You say that we don't have a connection? I say that you're lying. I don't know why you're lying, but you are. We've spent every moment together these last few days, I've seen the way you look at me when you don't think I'm noticing. You've seen the way I look at you when I don't give a damn if you're noticing. We have a connection, Ava. I know you feel about me the way I feel about you, or at least you're starting to feel that way. Why deny it? Why fight it?" He nodded as Ava looked away, her eyes brimming with tears. "Stay here."

"I can't." She shook her head. "You don't understand-"

"-Understand what?" Simon reached out, cradling her face in his hands. "Tell me what's wrong so that I CAN understand."

"I can't tell you." Ava slowly stepped away from him. "And I can't love you. I'm sorry." Simon sighed as Ava grabbed her bag and walked into the hotel, her shoulders shaking with sobs as she walked away from him.

Simon climbed into his car and quickly drove to his apartment, cursing and kicking the wall as he walked inside of his apartment. He had hoped that by 'confessing' his love for Ava, she would reciprocate in kind, allowing him to come upstairs to her hotel room to seal the deal he'd made with Linderman. He'd never expected her to turn him down cold. "Damn woman!"

"I see she's been rather resistant?" Simon turned and sighed to see Linderman sitting in a chair in his living room. "Oh, I've been tracking your progress with the Juarez compound through satellite. Quite the wonderful job the two of you did. You make quite a team." He laughed softly. "At least, I thought you did. What's wrong? Did you overestimate your irresistibility?"

"Apparently so Sir. For that, I apologize." Simon slumped unhappily in a chair opposite Linderman who watched him with interest. "I don't understand it. I did everything right. I treated her with respect, wooed her in every possible way, I even told her the truth about what the Juarez couple did to my family and villagers, but it was all for nothing."

Linderman shrugged. "Oh, I doubt it was all for nothing. Agent Reese is a tough nut to crack in many ways, but there's one way she's always been vulnerable. She has a heart and she falls in love easily, sometimes too easily." He nodded. "I think she loves you a great deal."

"Then why-?"

Linderman held up his hand, cutting Simon off. "Some news has come to my attention recently. I know exactly why she's holding back." He turned to Simon, smiling. "I need to speak with her. Trust me when I tell you, she'll be in your arms by morning." He stood and turned to Simon. "One caveat, though. When she comes to you, use protection."

"But I thought you wanted her to get pregnant?" Simon frowned at Linderman.

Linderman nodded. "Oh I do, eventually." He sighed. "As I've said, I've received some news recently, not only about why Agent Reese is holding you at arm's length, but I'm also going to need her for an upcoming assignment, one that will be rather long-term. You've started a bit of a fire here with her, with my help, I want you to continue to keep those flames burning with her from afar. You'll have a few days together to consummate this relationship here, afterwards I want you to continue to court her while she's in Texas. Call her frequently, woo her constantly, never make her doubt your love for her or hers for you. When the assignment that I want her for has finished, THEN you can impregnate her and have the next generation of super-powered humans."

"And what of the money you've been promising me?" Simon asked.

Linderman chuckled. "Oh, you'll be paid for the job you did with her this week, and for what the two of you are going to spend the next few days doing. For the next few years, as long as you continue to make her think you're head over heels in love with her, you'll be paid weekly for your troubles, not that I would think wooing someone as lovely as she is would be troublesome at all. You'll receive another bonus when her latest assignment is done and you get her pregnant."

"Thank you." Simon nodded.

"You're welcome." Linderman's eyes narrowed. "By the way, I've heard of your reputation around town. Try to keep it in your pants when you're away from Ava for the next few years, alright?"

Simon sighed and nodded. "Yes, Sir."

"Good." Linderman walked towards the door. "I'll go check on your girl now. Be prepared for her to arrive here by morning, ready to make love to you."

"I will." Simon slumped in his chair as Linderman left, wondering just what he'd done to get caught up in the middle of this. "The next few years? God help me."

* * *

June 11, 2007

Sylar's eyes slowly opened as he realized he was still in the medical unit of the OWI facility. He turned his head, smiling to see that Ava was curled up in a chair beside him, her head resting on the mattress beside him. He reached out and gently stroked the hand that was on his chest, grinning as Ava's eyes opened. "Hey." He whispered.

"Hey." Ava sat up slowly. "How are you feeling?"

Sylar shrugged. "I still feel like ass, but I'm starting to feel better. How long was I sleeping this time?"

Ava shook her head. "A couple of hours."

Sylar winced as he started to sit up. "How long do I have to lie in this damn bed?"

"I don't know." Ava laughed. "Getting antsy?"

"Yeah, a little." Sylar sighed. "And I'm starving. We didn't eat much before we were attacked by Kane and I've been a little comatose since then. You think you could get someone to round up a sandwich or something?" Sylar groaned as his stomach started growling. "Or a steak?"

Ava laughed. "You ARE hungry!"

Sylar stared at her for a moment, raising an eyebrow. "And not just for food." He looked around the room. "Think we're under surveillance in here?"

"Like that ever stopped us before." Ava leaned over him and kissed him softly, sighing as Sylar wrapped his arms around her and pulled her down on top of him, kissing her hungrily. Ava lifted her head. "Are you sure you're feeling up to this? I mean, you JUST woke up from a coma, you had tubes removed from your arm and leg that were circulating your blood while you were on bypass, you're probably sore as hell-"

"-And I'm even hornier than I am sore." Sylar grinned. "It's been almost a whole day since we-"

Ava laughed softly. "-we've gone longer than that, smartass."

"Yeah, because I was a stubborn ass who refused to admit how I felt about you. Now that I've said it out loud, I don't want to go a day without expressing it, verbally and physically. I love you." Sylar's hand slid up Ava's back to grasp the back of her head, pulling her back down to him as her lips crushed against his. As his hand moved back down her back to pull up her shirt, he stopped, hearing someone clear his throat. Sylar sighed as he and Ava stopped kissing and turned to see Claude standing in the doorway, holding a tray of food. "Hey Claude, remember how you thanked me earlier for saving your life and said that you owed me quite a few favors because of it? If you turn around, leave this room and stand guard for about fifteen minutes-

"-thirty-" Ava muttered.

"-correction, THIRTY minutes" Sylar laughed at Ava "ambitious, aren't we?" he turned back to Claude "I'll totally consider us even."

Claude smirked and shook his head. "Save those favors owed for another day. The doctor's right behind me to let you out of here after you eat."

"REALLY?" Sylar beamed as Ava climbed off of the bed, her face turning red as she adjusted her clothes. "So we'll head back to San Antonio to finish our hot little weekend?"

"Not exactly." Claude grinned. "You're going to be let out of the medical wing to retire to your quarters here. What you do in there for the rest of the weekend, as long as you take it easy and remember that you're recovering from being poisoned and having to be put on bypass for a few hours is up to you two."

"I'll take that." Sylar sat up and threw back the covers on the bed, gasping as he realized he was naked. He quickly pulled the covers back around him as Claude began to snicker. "It's kind of cold in here, isn't it?"

"Well, I'll tell you this, Mate. If that's what you look like when you're cold, it's a wonder Ava can walk at all." Claude shook his head as he walked towards the bed and placed a tray of food beside it. "Eat up before the doctor comes in and gives you the green light to head to your quarters."

"I'll get you a change of clothes." Ava kissed Sylar's cheek before she walked out of the room.

Sylar frowned as he pulled the tray of food towards him. "So our clothes arrived?"

"A few days ago, apparently." Claude nodded as Sylar began to wolf down his food. "Hungry?"

"It's been almost a day since I've had anything to eat and I had to share breakfast with you yesterday, remember?"

"Oh yeah, right before you saved my ass a few times." Claude chuckled. "If I'd known what was about to happen, I'd have let you eat all you wanted."

"You saved us too, Claude." Sylar shrugged. "You saved me, at least. I didn't know shit about rappelling. Your crash course in it saved my ass."

"Which in turn saved my ass when that blighter Kane decided to cut my line." Claude shook his head. "I'm being sincere here, Sylar. You saved my life. I would have been a stain on the pavement if it hadn't been for you." He held out his hand to Sylar. "Thanks for everything."

Sylar nodded and shook Claude's hand. "You're welcome."

"So are you two going to start making out now, or can I get my guy dressed and discharged from this wing so I can take him to our new home?" Ava stood in the doorway, grinning as she held out a pair of flannel pajama pants and a fleece pullover. "You're going to need these tonight. They try to keep it warm here, but it doesn't work too well."

"Friggin' Alaska." Sylar took the clothes as Ava walked to him and handed them over. "They couldn't send US to Tahiti with Sandra and Janice and the others, could they?"

"Well, they could've," Claude shrugged "but then Sandra and Janice and the kids would have been stuck here to keep them away from us and safe."

"Kids like snow." Sylar pulled the clothes on quickly.

"They like the beach, too." Claude sighed. "Besides, we're in one of the most remote regions of Alaska. We're not exactly in Barrow, we're a few miles outside of it. It's heavily protected and there's no one else around for miles. If anyone, and I do mean ANYONE shows up, we'll know about it and have warning to prepare."

"We thought we were safe in Texas too." Sylar climbed back into the bed. "Besides, how can anyone detect Kane if he shows up and just turns into mist to get past the barricades."

"He won't be able to do that." Ava grinned. "Remember how you turned him into a chunk of ice when he went misty on us? He'd freeze here too if he tried it."

"True." Sylar nodded. "And he wouldn't be able to thaw out again after that ever, unless this place got hot all of a sudden." He turned towards the door as one of the doctors entered it. "DOC! Tell me I can get out of here!"

The doctor sighed. "I see Mr. Raines has already announced that you can leave the wing." He walked towards Sylar nervously, holding out his hand. "I'm Dr. James Spencer. I, along with Dr. Kevin McCarthy saved your life when you were brought in."

"Nice to meet you." Sylar shook his hand and looked around impatiently. "So I can go, right? I'm getting a little tired of being in here, no offense."

"None taken." Dr. Spencer nodded. "You are free to go. You need to take it easy for the next few days and you're not allowed to start training again until you have been medically cleared by myself and Dr. McCarthy."

"Mind delaying that training a bit?" Sylar nodded at Claude. "He's a bit of a slave driver."

"OY!" Claude looked over at him. "Like I wouldn't show you SOME deference now that you've proven that you're not a complete cock-up!"

Dr. Spencer shook his head. "I'm sure you'll be ready for action by the time the rest of your team has arrived."

Sylar looked over at Ava, winking lasciviously. "I'm ready for some action now, actually."

Ava sighed. "Can I take McHorny out of here now?"

"Of course." Dr. Spencer laughed softly. "Try not to wear him out too much today and make sure he gets rest."

"I will." Ava took Sylar's hand. "Ready to go?"

"Most definitely." Sylar slid off of the bed and followed Ava out of the medical wing, with Claude following behind them. Sylar stared at the concrete walls, his nose wrinkling with distaste. "They're not into making this place looking cheery, are they?"

"It doesn't have aesthetics on it's side, that's for sure." Claude shook his head. "It wasn't built to be pretty though, it was built to keep out the cold while subjects were brought here for testing."

"Barrow, Alaska." Sylar sighed. "The coldest place in the United States." He shivered. "Will Rogers died here, you know."

"We won't." Ava smiled up at him. "We're going to kick Kane's ass up between his shoulders and send him yelping back under whatever rock he crawled out of."

"Yeah we will!" Claude smiled as Ava and Sylar reached their quarters. "I'm going to leave you two be for now. My room is down the hall and set up very nicely. They even put porn in there." He wiggled his eyebrows. "They know me too well."

Ava laughed as Claude nodded to them and hurried down the hallway. "He's a mess, really."

"Yeah, but he's a good guy." Sylar grinned at Ava. "I underestimated him. He's a pretty awesome person."

"Now you know why I've relied on him so much over the years."

"Yeah, I do." Sylar took her hand. "Care to show me our new love nest?"

"Of course." Ava opened the door and led Sylar in. "Peter brought our bedding while we were waiting for you to come around. I took a quick nap in here earlier after he and Claude basically twisted my arm to get some rest. It's pretty comfortable."

"I'll bet it is." Sylar pulled Ava close, kissing her passionately as he kicked the door closed behind them. They stumbled towards the bed, pulling their clothes off as they fell onto the mattress, and wrapping the blankets around them.

"Remember what the doctor said. You need to take it easy." Ava whispered breathlessly as Sylar began to nuzzle her neck, his hands roaming over her body.

"I will. I'll take it very easy." Sylar lifted his head up, smiling at her. "Later."


	26. Chapter 26: Clandestine Meeting

Chapter Twenty-Six: Clandestine Meeting

June 11, 2007

They quickly slipped out of the beach house that afternoon, glancing over their shoulders at the house to make sure they weren't being watched. Once they were away from the house, they grabbed hands and quickly disappeared into thin air.

Kaito Nakamura sat on the deck of the beach house in Tahiti, sipping his coffee with his son beside him. He sat up straight with surprise as the four visitors appeared on the beach in front of him. "What on earth?" He asked, as he set his coffee cup down on the table.

Peter grinned sheepishly at him as Niki, Candice and Mohinder stood by. "We sort of need to talk to you, Sir." He glanced over at Hiro and shrugged. "It has to do with Mom's plans, if you know what I mean."

Kaito sighed and nodded. "You can speak freely with Hiro here, I've already told him everything about your mother's 'plans'." Kaito's mouth screwed up with distaste.

"I thought you might have." Peter and the others walked onto the deck and took seats. Everyone looked to Peter as he leaned forward on his elbows, his fingers tented under his chin. "I don't like her plans, Mr. Nakamura."

"I don't either, and call me Kaito." Nakamura sat back in his chair. "I take it you have a plan?"

Peter raised an eyebrow as he nodded. "I might."

Kaito regarded Peter for a moment, his face slowly breaking into a sly smile. "I thought as much." He nodded. "Keep talking."

"I will in just a moment." Peter looked around. "We're going to need the Bennets here for this as well as Matt." He turned to Hiro. "Can you go upstairs and get them while I get Claude?"

Hiro nodded and walked into the house as Peter disappeared, teleporting to Barrow.

* * *

July 14, 2004

Ava climbed out of the tub, drying herself off as she heard a knock on her hotel room door. "Room service, THANK GOD!" She pulled on a robe, wrapping it around her as she opened the door, her eyes widening as Linderman smiled at her. "Mr. Linderman?"

"Hello Avery." Linderman stepped into her room. "Apparently I seem to always catch you coming out of the bath, yes?" He turned as Ava continued to stare at him. "I came here to Bogota as soon as I heard the news about your victory with the Juarez couple, your victory and Simon's. Congratulations, my Dear."

"How did you-?" Ava shook her head. "You know everything, of course."

"Yes, I do." Linderman's words were pointed as his eyes bored into Ava's. "I do know EVERYTHING."

Ava swallowed back the lump that began to form in her throat. "Sir?"

"Did you know that when we suspect our agents of wrongdoing, we sweep their apartments when they're not home?" Ava's eyes closed as she leaned against the wall. "Our team found some cameras in your home. They also found some interesting footage of a little tryst between yourself and Agent Thompson that took place right before you came here. Care to explain what's going on?"

"Oh God." Ava could feel the blood draining from her face as her mind began to scramble for an explanation, something, anything to tell Linderman.

"God isn't going to help you with this." Linderman pulled his shoulders back and shook his head as tears began to slide from Ava's closed eyes. "I seem to remember asking you once before if you and Agent Thompson were having an affair. You denied it. You lied to me, Avery. You either lied because Thompson has something on you that he's holding over your head, or you lied because you ENJOY what Thompson does to you. I think it's the former instead of the latter, judging by the footage in your apartment. I've seen more enthusiasm from convicts going to the death chamber." He sighed as Ava began to slide down the wall, reaching out to steady her. "No time for you to get all girly on me and faint." Taking her arm gently, he led her to the bed and let her sit down before sitting in a chair across from her. "I want to know what's going on and I want to know it now."

Ava nodded slowly, taking a deep breath to keep her composure as she blushed, embarrassed for almost fainting. "What do you want to know?"

Linderman leaned forward, his eyes glittering. "Everything."

* * *

June 11, 2007

Sylar rolled over in bed, wrapping his arms around a sleeping Ava as he nuzzled the back of her neck. "Morning." He whispered.

"What time is it?" Ava asked sleepily.

"It's actually noon, it's not morning anymore." Sylar began to nibble on Ava's earlobe as his hands slid under the heavy blankets. "Don't you think it's time to get up now?"

Ava shivered with pleasure as his hands began to caress her. "We've barely slept as it is." Ava rolled over to face him. "Someone kept waking me up when he should have been taking it easy."

"I HAVE been taking it easy." Sylar began to kiss Ava, his lips traveling down her neck. "Slow, gentle, steady paces, very easy wouldn't you say?"

"You're supposed to be resting, not waking me up every hour for sex no matter now slow, gentle and easy it is." Ava smiled as she began to kiss Sylar back. "God, I'm hungry."

"Me too." Sylar began to kiss her more passionately, sighing with frustration as Ava pushed him away.

"For FOOD, jackass." Ava laughed. "Aren't YOU hungry? It's been a few hours since Claude brought you dinner, and I barely ate yesterday too."

"I'm really not in the mood for food." Sylar began to tackle again and groaned as his stomach began to growl. "Just ignore that. " He whispered.

"I can't. Mine's been doing that for the last few hours." Ava shivered as she pulled the covers off of the bed and climbed out of it, quickly dressing as Sylar burrowed back under the blankets. "GOD IT'S COLD!"

"I thought this building was made to keep it warm in here." Sylar complained as he snuggled back under the covers.

"Imagine how cold it would be if that wasn't true." Ava sighed as she walked to a thermostat. "It's set to keep the heater running until this room reaches seventy-five degrees, but it's only fifty in here right now." She turned to Sylar. "What do you want?"

"You, back in bed." Sylar nodded.

Ava grinned. "I meant to eat."

"And I say again, YOU." Sylar sighed. "It would be warmer in here if we kept our blood pumping."

"Later." Ava pulled on Sylar's pullover over her jeans and sweater. "I'll be back in a while. There's a galley here that's supposed to be fully stocked."

"Hurry." Sylar watched as she walked out of the room. He stretched under the covers and rubbed his face, grimacing at the raspy sound of stubble. "Damn, no wonder she didn't want to do anything. I was probably giving her rug burn." He sat up slowly, looking around the room.

Their quarters consisted of a living area with a bed, couch, dressers and a table and chairs, with a bathroom off to the side. Sylar twitched his fingers, opening the doors to an entertainment center on the wall opposite the bed. "SWEET!" He sat up, smiling with appreciation at the wide-screen, high definition television with a DVD player. "Oh, tell me we've got cable!" He twitched his fingers again to turn on the television and frowned as the picture was filled with static. "Snow outside and snow inside." Sylar turned off the television and rubbed his cheek again. "Okay, let's see if the shower's at least hot." He brought his clothes to him with a wave of his hand, dressing under the covers before climbing out of bed. Cursing as his bare feet hit the icy floor, he goose-stepped to the bathroom. "Note to self, next time put on socks." He grumbled as he ran into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. The bathroom was spartan, with white tiled floors and walls, a deep clawfoot bathtub on one side of the room, a shower stall on the other, with two sinks and a toilet between them. Sylar pulled a towel and washcloth out of the linen closet before turning on the shower, nodding as steam began to fill the room. "At least the showers are hot." He let the room warm up as he found toiletries for himself and Ava under the sinks and finally undressed, groaning with pleasure as the hot water hit his skin.

He stepped out of the bathroom a half hour later in a cloud of steam, dressed again and clean-shaven. Looking around, he sighed as he realized that Ava hadn't yet returned. Shivering, he walked to the thermostat and adjusted it, tapping it as he grimaced. "Bet you're just here for show." He muttered before walking around the room, looking at the collection of DVDs in the entertainment center and opening drawers. "They even put our clothes away." He laughed softly and then frowned as he opened one drawer, noticing a sketch pad and colored pencils that had been placed there. Pulling them out, he walked to the bed and climbed in, wrapping the blankets around him as he glanced at the door nervously. Shrugging, he opened the pad and began to see a pattern forming on the blank paper. Moments later, his eyes white and unseeing, he began to draw.

* * *

July 14, 2004

Linderman paced the room as Ava sat on the bed, her eyes red and puffy. "This has been going on since your eighteenth birthday." He glanced over at Ava. "Correct?" She nodded mutely. "And he's been holding this over your head, forcing you to submit to him by threatening to kill Claude and the Bennet family if you didn't comply or if you told anyone."

"Yes Sir." Ava whispered.

"And you lied to me when I first asked you about this because you were afraid that I wouldn't be able to get to Thompson in time before he sent an order to have your friends murdered, is that correct?" Ava nodded, her expression miserable. Linderman sighed as he patted her shoulder gently. "You've been dealing with quite a burden these last few years, with him pawing at you. Does this have anything to do with Claude being accused of hiding others?"

Ava frowned. "He was hiding others with special abilities, but Thompson went after him for it after Claude found out about us. He apparently attacked Thompson when he found out what was going on." She wiped tears away as they rolled down her cheeks. "Claude's still alive, Sir. I helped him get away."

"I see." Linderman shook his head. "Anything else?"

"Thompson doctored evidence to make it look like Bennet was in cahoots with Claude. That's how he kept Claude silent. He told Claude that if he gave you that evidence, Bennet would be killed too and then he implied that, with Bennet out of the way, he would have access to Claire if she ever manifested." Ava shuddered. "He threatened to do to her what he's been doing to me all of these years."

Linderman's mouth tightened. "He would never have access to that girl. You wouldn't have reason to know this, but if anything were to happen to Noah and or Sandra Bennet, Claire would be returned to her birth family." As Ava stared up at him, Linderman nodded. "I know them well. Thompson won't ever have any kind of 'access' to THAT girl!" He sat back in his chair, his eyes boring into Ava. "Do you have proof, if Thompson came forward with this evidence against Noah, that it is indeed false?" He closed his eyes as Ava shook her head miserably. "Of course not."

"There's something else I should tell you, Sir." Ava shrank on the bed, her head lowered. "I'm still in contact with Claude."

"Oh?" Linderman raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." Ava sat up, looking Linderman in the eye. "I'm not giving him up, either."

"I see." Linderman picked a piece of lint off of his pants as he nodded. "And you're telling me this because?"

"Because there's something else that Thompson's holding over my head." Ava took a deep breath and told Linderman about the events at the bank in New York." Linderman nodded as she talked. "Thompson now has that over my head as well."

Linderman took a deep breath. "So not only have you been lying about your 'relationship' with Thompson to protect Raines and Bennet, you've also been lying to save your own skin. You continued to have contact with someone we've disavowed at the very least and would still like to get rid of at the most, you've lied about an agent's sexual abuse of you to protect said disavowed agent as well as another agent and his family, and your contact with that disavowed agent led to the death of another of our agents when he was ordered to take you out. Is there ANYTHING else?" Ava slowly shook her head as Linderman closed his eyes. "Quite a lot of information to deal with." He nodded. "Let's start with your relationship with Thompson, shall we?" He leaned forward, smiling at her. "How would you like the opportunity to take Thompson out?" His smile widened as Ava stared at him, shocked. "His abuse of you and his powers has warranted it."

"When?" Ava whispered.

"Soon." Linderman shook his head. "If you'd told the truth about all of this when I first confronted you about it, Thompson would be cold in his grave already." He sighed. "Unfortunately, some information has come to light. I'm going to need Agent Thompson around a bit longer to help me carry out a little project of mine, but as soon as that's over with, he'll be handed over to you for extermination." He smiled softly. "You can make it as quick and painless, or as slow and painful as you'd like."

"Okay." Ava nodded. "What kind of project do you need him for? Do you need my help?" She grinned. "Anything to speed up the process, right?"

Linderman chuckled. "Oh, you're really going to make him pay for what he's done to you, aren't you? No, I'm not going to need you for this project, however I do need you for something else."

"What?" Ava smiled. "Anything you need, Sir."

"If you follow through with this, as well, I'll forgive your protection of Agent Raines and I won't retaliate against you for it. I'll also look the other way if you continue to contact him, but it'll just be between the two of us, understood? If anyone else, say Bennet, found out about Agent Raines' survival and he had to go after him, I won't be able to protect him."

"Okay." Ava nodded.

Linderman smiled. "There are two things I need from you, actually." He leaned forward. "We've installed new cameras in your apartment. These are equipped with sound and all audio and visual are going to be downloaded onto a new computer that is now in the home office of your apartment. You are to copy everything to DVD and keep it in a safe place. That way, when you DO take Thompson out, you'll have evidence to back up the legitimacy of your termination of him. I want YOU to get him to confess that he doctored evidence against Bennet and I want you to get him to threaten Claire again as well. That way, after he's eliminated, Noah will be safe from retaliation from anyone who gets that doctored evidence."

"Yes Sir." Ava smiled softly.

"And the second thing I need you to do is this," Linderman shrugged "well, let me ask you something first, okay? Why did you turn down the advances of Agent Lopez?"

Ava frowned and stared at the floor. "Because nothing would come of it and if Thompson found out about it, he would have-" she shook her head "-he wouldn't have liked it, Sir."

"Was that the only thing holding you back?"

Ava looked up at Linderman, her brow furrowing. "How did you know about Simon hitting on me?"

"It's like you said earlier, I know everything." Linderman laughed softly. "You're a young woman, he's a young man, of course he'd make advances towards you."

"He said he was in love with me." Ava whispered.

"He possibly could be." Linderman reached out and took her hands in his, patting them gently. "And how do you feel about HIM?"

"I don't know." Ava shook her head. "I like him. I'm attracted to him, but other than that-" She shrugged. "It doesn't matter, really. I'm going back to Texas in the morning and back to Thompson." Her nose wrinkled as the mention of his name. "But I can take it, now that I know there's an end in sight."

"True." Linderman smiled at him. "I'm going to be giving Thompson what he thinks will be a promotion for now. He'll be sent to Austin. He's still going to have some access to you, but I think you'll be able to stomach that, don't you think?"

Ava nodded. "Who'll take over the Odessa office?"

"Bennet." Linderman winked at her. "You and the Haitian will be his second and third in command there. You'll all still report to Thompson, but with him in Austin, you'll at least get some breathing room away from him. You'll also start splitting time between Odessa and Bogota. You and Agent Lopez made an interesting team, I think you two as partners will be quite spectacular, don't you think?"

"We did work well together." Ava nodded again, then frowned. "But if you're going to kill Thompson for-"

Linderman held up his hand. "-I don't have a problem with people that work for me becoming involved, as long as it's consensual, and as long as they realize that their loyalties to me and the company supersede everything else. By finally being honest with me tonight, you've more than proven your loyalty and trust in me. I trust that if you and Agent Lopez become involved, you'll still be loyal to the company above and beyond everything else, correct?"

"Yes, Sir."

"You're a young woman. You SHOULD date, you SHOULD be out there, meeting men. In the line of work you're in, where else ARE you going to meet them, yes?" He laughed softly. "Don't let this job be your life, just let it be a facet of it. There are other facets you should explore. You should date, possibly marry, start a family. Bennet is able to do well at having work and a family, I think you would too."

"Okay." Ava blinked as she looked around the room.

"Okay." Linderman patted her hands one final time. "I'm going to leave you to your thoughts. Thank you for being honest with me, finally."

"You're welcome." Ava sighed. "Thank you for not killing me after finally telling you everything."

Linderman chuckled. "Oh, you're welcome!" He turned and walked towards the door his eyes widening as he opened it to see a room service waiter standing at the door. "I believe this is for you."

"I think so." Ava stood and walked to the door, letting the waiter in and tipping him as he left. She shrugged. "After eating MRE's for the last few days-"

"-Of course!" Linderman smiled. "After the exemplary job you did at your task in the jungles, consider yourself on vacation for the next week. Stay here, relax and enjoy yourself. Thompson and the others won't expect you back for another week at least anyway. In the meantime, I'll head to Odessa and give Thompson his promotion."

Ava's eyes widened in surprise. "I can stay here for a week on vacation? THANKS!"

"You're more than welcome." Linderman pecked her quickly on the cheek. "Such a good agent. Take care, My Dear."

"You too, Sir." Ava closed the door behind him and sat on the bed, pulling the meal cart towards her as she relished the idea of having a week to herself. Smiling with relief, she began to cry and laugh, a weight finally lifted from her shoulders. Shaking her head, she turned to the phone, Linderman's words echoing in her head as she dialed a number.

* * *

June 11, 2007

Sylar sat back, his eyes returning to normal as he looked around the room, dazed. He glanced at a clock and realized that he'd been drawing for thirty minutes. Staring down at the sketch pad, his eyes widened in horror as he realized what he'd drawn. A woman lay face down in the snow, dressed in body armor, a pool of blood spreading underneath her. Her long red hair covered her face, a helmet lay beside her as a translucent hand reached for her ankle. In the background, four men were fighting, three dark-haired men, one with a sword, against a blond man with claws. They appeared to be grappling with the blond. Sylar stared at the men, noticing how they seemed to be disappearing from the picture. He tore his eyes away from the men to stare at the woman as she lay in the snow, obviously dead or dying.

"I'm back!" Sylar looked up to see Ava walk through the bedroom door, pulling a meal cart behind her. He quickly closed the sketch pad and hid it, along with the pencils under the bed as she came in the room. "You wouldn't BELIEVE all of the food in that galley! They're definitely stocked for an army, let me tell you! There was this HUGE walk-in freezer with all kinds of different meats and-" She shook her head, laughing "-With the exception of the cold temperatures and icky décor, I think I could just live here forever."

Sylar smiled softly, his heart pounding as he thought of the sketch he'd just drawn. "Sounds great. What's for lunch?"

"Well, it took me FOREVER to decide what to cook , but I finally decided on steak!" Ava lifted up the covers on two plates. "They had the most wonderful looking t-bones in there and the kitchen in there is incredible. There was an indoor grill."

Sylar nodded, suddenly realizing that he'd lost his appetite. "Sounds good."

"I looked for Claude, but I couldn't find him." Ava shrugged. "He's probably strapped on some snowshoes and tried to find his way to town to look for some hot Eskimo or something." She laughed softly. "Knowing him, he'll find one, too." She turned and finally noticed Sylar's stricken expression, her smile fading. "What's wrong?"

Sylar shook his head. "Dinner looks good, but I suddenly don't feel so well."

"Oh no!" Ava walked over to him and stroked his face. "You took a shower and shaved." She leaned down, kissing him softly. "You overdid it, didn't you?"

Sylar nodded, his eyes darting to the floor. "Yeah, I think I did."

"Tell you what," Ava smiled at him "I'll put your food up in the fridge in the galley and when you're feeling a little better, just let me know and I'll bring it back to you, okay?"

"Okay." Sylar reached up and touched her face, letting his fingers glide along her cheek. He stared into her eyes, trying to will away the thought of the sketch that he'd hidden under the bed. He stroked her hair, studying the dark brown shade. "You know, I'm starting to like this color. You should keep it."

Ava snorted as she stepped away from him and sat at the table, pulling her plate towards her as she began to eat. "Not likely. I don't feel right as a brunette."

"It's a very lovely color on you." Sylar nodded emphatically. "You should keep it. Honestly."

Ava shook her head as she ate. "Please. I was born a redhead. I even have the temper that goes along with it. I should go back to my natural red if anything, to give someone a bit of a warning before I go off on them." She sighed. "Actually, there's a box of red color under the sink. I saw it this morning. I guess Angela had that sent here too. I'll probably color it back red later." She noticed Sylar's expression and frowned. "What?"

"Nothing." Sylar shrugged. "I like the red too, but the chestnut-" he struggled to smile at her "-that's the color your hair was the first time I met you. It makes me think of Melissa McCain, the girl I crushed on last year."

Ava smiled softly. "Well, maybe after I go back to being a redhead, I'll dye it back this color for special occasions or something."

Sylar sighed. "Maybe." He lay back on the bed and bundled up in the covers. Closing his eyes, he pretended to doze off until he heard Ava finish eating. He listened as she put her plate back on the cart and left the room, pushing it back to the kitchen. As soon as she was down the hall, he jumped up and ran to the bathroom. Listening as Ava washed dishes and put his plate in the refrigerator, he searched under the sink until he found the box of hair color that she'd mentioned. He quickly opened the box and poured the dye down the sink, washing away any trace of it before he took the box and slipped out of the room. Finding a trashcan, he tossed everything away and dashed back to their quarters, slipping back under the covers. He closed his eyes as Ava returned a few minutes later and listened as she walked over to him. His heart pounded as he felt her hands graze his forehead, then her lips. He opened his eyes and looked up at her as she smiled down at him.

"Just checking for a fever." Ava winked at him. "Go back to sleep, Honey."

"What are you going to do?" He murmured sleepily.

"Shower and become Ava again, red hair and all." She grinned as she walked into the bathroom. Sylar listened as she searched for the coloring, smiling to himself. He heard her sigh and give up before the shower started. He rolled over and pulled the sketch pad out. Staring at the picture again, he shook his head.

"This isn't going to happen to you, Baby. It'll be me lying in a pool of blood before I let YOU die like that." Closing the pad again, he tossed it back under the bed and lay back. "It's not going to happen. I'll be damned if it does."

* * *

July 14, 2004

Simon sat back in the chair Linderman had been sitting in an hour earlier, watching as Ava finished her meal. "Why do I get the impression that you actually ordered just enough for yourself?"

Ava blushed. "Because I did." She laughed softly. "And then I changed my mind after it got here and decided that I wanted you to come over and share it with me."

"Why?" Simon's eyes narrowed.

Ava sighed. "I've been thinking about what you said. I'm not in love with you, but I do want-" she looked away "-Mr. Linderman was here earlier. He's letting me stay here for a week on vacation and after I return to Texas, I'm supposed to continue to report here on occasion to be partnered with you."

"I see." Simon nodded.

"Anyway, I was thinking that along with being your partner in the field, maybe we could be partners in other ways too."

Simon raised an eyebrow. "Just what other ways were you thinking about?"

Ava stood up and pushed the cart away from the bed and Simon's chair. Staring into his eyes, she slowly took off her robe. Simon's eyes traveled over her naked body as she blushed and looked away. "Like I said earlier, I'm not in love with you, but-" she gasped as Simon quickly stood and began to kiss her passionately.

"-I don't really care if you love me or not." Simon began to undress quickly with Ava's help. "You have a week, WE have a week, and after that-"

"-We'll have plenty of time to spend together when I come here for missions." Ava gasped as they fell on the bed together.

"You'll end up feeling for me the same way I feel for you." Simon grinned as they began to make love.

* * *

June 11, 2007

Sylar opened his eyes as Ava stepped out of the bathroom and pretended to be surprised. "You're still a brunette."

Ava frowned as she climbed into the bed beside him. "I could have SWORN that there was a box of red hair coloring under the sink." She shrugged. "Maybe it was at the farmhouse in Odessa."

"Maybe." Sylar rolled over and snuggled beside Ava. "You could just stay brunette until this is all over with though." He began to kiss her. "That won't hurt my feelings one bit."

Ava kissed Sylar back and then pushed his hands away as they began to roam under the blankets. "Whoa! Stop right there!"

Sylar's eyes widened. "WHAT?"

"Less than an hour ago you were feeling all sickly and tired. You couldn't even eat, Baby."

"But I'm feeling better now." He began to kiss her again. "MUCH better."

"You're not going to overdo it again." Ava shook her head. "Just go back to sleep, okay? You need your rest."

"But I'm not sleepy." Sylar muttered as Ava pulled him close and snuggled against his back. "Really, I'm not in the mood for sleep."

"I am and you NEED to rest." Ava's lips grazed his ear. "Unless you're feeling up to finally telling me what really scared the shit out of you earlier and what it has to do with keeping me a brunette."

Sylar felt his heart plummet at Ava's words. "How did you-"

"-I could sense your fear, Baby." Ava stroked his hair as she lay next to him. "You were really upset about something when I came into the room and you covered by saying you weren't feeling well. When are you going to figure out that you can't hide stuff like that from me? I SAW that hair color under the sink just this morning. I was checking under the sink to see if there was anything we needed and I know I saw it. It's no coincidence that it went missing right after you got freaked out about something and started trying to talk me into staying a brunette. Now tell me what's going on."

Sylar struggled to speak and shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm going to go to sleep now."

"Sylar-"

"-I don't want to talk about it." Sylar scooted away from Ava as she sighed with exasperation and closed his eyes. "Just keep it brown, okay?"

Ava watched as Sylar kept his back to her. Shaking her head, she rolled over and curled up on her side of the bed. Studying a lock of her hair, she made a face as she tossed it aside. "I'm going back to red, dammit." She muttered as she dozed off.

* * *

Kaito sat back in his and studied the others. Sandra, Claire, Lyle, Noah, Matt, Janice, Mohinder, Candice, Niki, Hiro, Claude and Peter watched him. He smiled at all of them. "So we're all in agreement?"

"Rotten bastards." Claude muttered under his breath. "I should have known better than to have rejoined with them."

"Me too." Noah sighed as Sandra squeezed his hand.

"Don't you talk like that, either of you!" Sandra nodded towards Claude. "How were you to know what they were cooking up?"

"Because we've both worked for them for many bloody years!" Claude glared angrily. "I knew they were underhanded, but I never thought they'd resort to THIS!"

"It's not ALL of the board members that have decided on this, just the majority. There IS a minority and they could become quite vocal." Kaito looked pointedly at Claude. "Calling them names right now isn't helping. Besides, would you rather be back with the OWI, or living on the streets in New York?"

"I did quite well in New York, thank you." Claude pouted.

Kaito sighed. "Is everyone HERE in agreement on what should be done about this?" He looked around as everyone nodded. "Any dissenters to this plan should speak up now." He nodded as everyone remained silent. "Then it's settled and we'll not discuss this around Angela, understood? We don't need HER running back to the others to try and stop this. We'll inform Ava and Sylar about the company's plans for them after Kane is defeated to keep them in the loop on this. They have a right to know what's planned for them. Meanwhile, I will go to the other dissenters and see if they can help me convince the others to change their votes. If that doesn't work, we'll find a way to help Ava and Sylar escape and go underground when this is finished. Perhaps he won't have to die by her hand after all." Kaito's expression turned sad. "If he helps defeat the man who killed my Kimiko, I'll owe him a great deal. Keeping him safe and alive will be the least I can do for him after that." He looked up and studied everyone, finally pointing to Peter. "You need to return Mr. Raines to Barrow before anyone realizes he's gone and then you should return to The Hamptons with your friends. What does Angela think you're doing?"

"Collecting seashells and strolling along the beach." Peter laughed softly. "Not that she'll miss us. We bribed Molly and Micah with extra ice cream after dinner if they'd keep Mom occupied. When we left, Molly was 'fixing her hair' while Micah was cajoling her to play Guitar Hero with her. She's got her hands full for a while."

Kaito chuckled. "Oh, I'll bet she does." He stood up. "Then this meeting is adjourned. I'll see everyone in Barrow tomorrow when we all arrive there to finish training and to wait for Kane."

Peter stood and offered his hand to Kaito. "Thanks for hearing me out, Sir."

Kaito beamed as he shook Peter's hand. "You're welcome. Your mother had no idea what she set into motion when she crossed you, did she?"

Peter shrugged. "What can I say? She's always underestimated me."

"Stupid mistake on her part." Kaito nodded as he regarded Peter. "I never thought I'd live to see the day when she made one of those."


	27. Chapter 27: The Scroll of Ivanovitch

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Scroll of Ivanovitch

June 12, 2007

It was barely dawn in Tahiti as Sandra sat on the side of the bed, watching sadly as Noah dressed and packed his small bag. "You have warm clothes?"

Noah turned and smiled at her. "Yes. Claire does too. I made sure to have them sent to Barrow last week when we first decided to go there. Angela also made arrangements to have extra things bought and sent for all of us."

"Good." Sandra stared at her hands as she folded them in her lap. "I probably won't see you again until this is all over and done with, will I?"

"Probably not." Noah turned away from her, his shoulders sagging slowly as he finished packing. He turned back to Sandra as he heard her stifle a sob. "Oh Honey." He walked to her, kneeling in front of her as she shook her head, fighting tears. "It's going to be okay."

"No it's not." She shook her head harder. "I'm trying so hard to be strong and put on a brave face, but the idea of you and our Claire going up against this Kane person-"

"-Claire's a tough girl, you should see how easily she's taken to the combat training. Kane's not going to kill her."

"I'm not so much worried about Claire." Sandra whispered, her eyes filling with tears. "She's 'indestructible', remember? I'm worried about you. I know you too well, Noah."

"I'm not in the fight." Noah smiled wryly. "I'm going to be part of the 'support' team standing on the sidelines, basically a MASH group to grab anyone who's hurt and patch them up enough to return to the main fight."

"But I KNOW you." Sandra looked down at him. "If that Kane even blinks in our little girl's direction, much less makes a move towards her, you'll rush him and jump into the fray, even though you know she's 'indestructible', even though you know that you'd get killed faster than she would, because I'd do the same thing. It's a parent's prerogative to want to protect and defend their child, even when they know their child can take care of themselves." She took Noah's face in her hands as he tried to look away, making his eyes meet hers. "Promise me that you'll come back to me. Promise me that you won't do something stupid. Promise me that I'm going to be reunited with you AND our daughter when this is over."

"I promise that you won't lose either one of us." Noah leaned forward, half-standing as he kissed his wife. He smiled softly at her as he placed his hands gently on her wrists, squeezing them softly. "I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating: I could never love you enough."

Sandra fingers massaged his temples as she winked at him. "And as I've said before, you do just fine." She leaned forward until their foreheads touched. "You mean the world to me."

"You ARE my world." Noah whispered. As they began to kiss, Claire walked into the room and stopped, smiling softly as she began to back out of the room.

"I'll come back later."

"Wait just a moment, Young Lady!" Sandra kissed Noah on the cheek as she stood and walked to her daughter, her eyes filled with pride. She reached out and tucked a blond curl behind the girl's ear, studying her. "I just made your father promise me something, now I want the same from you."

"Okay." Claire nodded slowly.

"Take care of yourself, take care of your father, don't do something stupid and don't come back to me in a body bag, either of you." Sandra wrapped her arms around her daughter, hugging her tightly.

Claire beamed as she hugged Sandra back. "We're going to be okay. I'll make sure Dad stays out of the fight, I promise."

"I'm going to be OKAY!" Noah placed his hands on his hips, looking exasperated. "It's not like I haven't been around a fight before or dealt with someone with dangerous powers."

"More than one?" Claire looked at him pointedly.

"Remember Kirby Plaza?" Noah asked.

"I remember Sylar knocked you into a wall and dislocated your shoulder." Claire raised her eyebrows. "I remember the paramedics having to set it at the scene because you were too proud to go to an emergency room. I remember-"

"-Okay! Okay!" Noah held up his hands, giving up. He laughed and shook his head. "I promise to stay out of the fray as much as I can-" he nodded as Sandra and Claire began to talk back to him "-and not step out of bounds as a member of the support team, while I let Claire and the others do the heavy lifting." He walked to both of them and wrapped an arm around each of their necks. "And I promise that we will both come back to you and Lyle in one piece as soon as this is over with."

"That's all I want." Sandra kissed Noah on the cheek, then Claire as Noah turned and grabbed his bag. She smiled at her daughter. "This was a good weekend, wasn't it?"

"It really was." Claire walked with her mother out of the bedroom as Noah followed behind them. "This is a great house."

"I was teasing your father, asking him if we could get this as a retirement gift instead of a gold watch, but he said that he didn't think the company would dare part with it." Sandra chuckled.

Kaito rounded a corner with Hiro and a sleepy-looking Ando, carrying bags. "Well, the company doesn't have a say, since it's my home, not theirs, but I think you and Noah would be more than welcome to visit here on vacation again some time."

Sandra smiled slyly over at Noah. "Hear that? We can come back for a vacation." She leaned towards her husband. "What do you say to a second honeymoon, just the two of us?"

Noah grinned. "It would be better than our original honeymoon in San Marcos."

"I liked San Marcos." Sandra shrugged. "It was a nice little town."

"It was all I could afford at the time. I couldn't even get us out of Texas." Noah sighed.

"It was a beautiful place." Sandra beamed. "But this would be great too. You and me, not another soul for miles, we wouldn't even have to pack any clothes."

"I'm standing RIGHT HERE." Claire stared at her parents as she shook her head.

Noah ducked his head down, his ears turning red as he cleared his throat. "Lyle still asleep?" Sandra nodded. "Tell him I love him."

"I love you too, Dad." Noah turned to see Lyle stepping out of his bedroom. "You and Claire be careful, okay?"

"We will." Noah pulled his son into a bear-hug, sighing as the boy hugged him back tightly. He affectionately ruffled Lyle's hair as he stepped past him to hug Claire.

"Kick ass, Sis."

"Always." Claire let Lyle go as she walked to Noah and was joined by Kaito, Hiro and Ando. She looked around, frowning. "Where's Matt?"

"He'll head to Barrow in a while. Peter's coming here with Mohinder and Niki to drop off Micah and Molly." Kaito shrugged. "He wanted a few more minutes alone with Janice."

"Understandable. She's nine months pregnant." Noah grinned. He winked at his wife and son as they stood away from the group. "I love you. We'll see you both soon."

"I love you too." Sandra watched as they disappeared from the hallway and sighed. "Be careful." She whispered as she tried to fight tears.

* * *

July 19, 2004

Thompson walked into Linderman's office in Las Vegas and smiled down at his boss, taking the seat he was offered across from his desk. "Any word on Agent Reese?"

Linderman nodded. "Oh, she's done a wonderful job in Bogota, so wonderful in fact, that I think she's going to start splitting her time between the Odessa branch and the one there in Columbia."

Thompson raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Oh yes! She and the agent I assigned to accompany her on the trip dispatched the Juarez threat in record time. You may have met the gentleman I assigned her with, Simon Lopez?"

Thompson felt his smile falter as he nodded. "Yes, I've met Lopez. I'm the one who was assigned to bringing him in to the organization."

"That's right, you were." Linderman nodded. "Simon and Ava made an excellent team in the jungles of Columbia. She did such a wonderful job that I gave her some down-time in Bogota. I've asked Agent Lopez to take especially good care of her while she's there, show her the sights around the town. Bogota is a beautiful city if you have the right guide."

Thompson nodded again as he gritted his teeth. "Sounds like a lovely reward for her."

"Oh, she's not the only one being rewarded for this!" Linderman winked at him. "You and Noah Bennet have done an exemplary job in training her. She's quickly becoming one of our best and efficient agents and all of that is due to the two of you. You and Bennet are being rewarded as well."

"How?" Thompson asked, his brow furrowing.

"You're both being promoted. Actually, all THREE of you are getting promotions, you, Bennet and Ava." Linderman handed Thompson two file folders. "You are now the head of operations in our branch in Austin."

"Austin?" Thompson flipped through the folder.

"Yes, Austin." Linderman watched Thompson as he studied the information. "Bennet will take over your former position in Odessa as head of operations there. Ava will be under him, sharing the position of second-in-command there with The Haitian when she's not in Bogota. Bennet will still report to you while you're in Austin, but I'm going to need you in that office."

"So I'm leaving Odessa." Thompson sighed as Linderman's eyes narrowed.

"Is there something WRONG with leaving Odessa?"

Thompson glanced up at Linderman and shook his head quickly. "No Sir. Nothing wrong with leaving Odessa at all. Thank you for your faith in me and for giving me this raise and promotion."

"You're welcome." Linderman smiled again. "Along with the promotion to Austin, I have another project for you as well." He stood and motioned for Thompson to follow him. They walked into a room, Linderman's smile widening as Thompson gasped. The room was filled with paintings. "Do you like art, Mr. Thompson?"

"I have a healthy appreciation for it." Thompson stared at the odd paintings in the room.

"There are two things that I take a great deal of interest in. One is art, the other is politics."

"That's nice." Thompson walked around the room, studying different paintings. He frowned at one of a group of eight people fighting a blond man in the snow. "Very nice."

"The artist of these paintings is someone I've taken a great deal of interest in. He's a very special individual." Linderman grinned at Thompson, nodding as the man turned to him. "He can paint the future."

"Precog?" Thompson pointed to the painting he'd been studying. "So the fight in this painting is going to happen one day?"

"Yes. All of the events in all of these paintings has either happened or WILL happen." Linderman stopped to point to a painting of a man standing in what appeared to be the Oval Office. "I know this young man. He's the son of some close family friends of mine."

"And it appears he's going to be President one day."

"Indeed he will. We've been readying him for this for many years. New information has come to light with these paintings." Linderman turned to Thompson. "He's going to be President one day very soon, and you're going to help us put him there."

"How?" Thompson asked.

"You'll see." Linderman sighed as he turned back to the painting of the man in the Oval Office.

Thompson nodded as he turned back to the painting of the fight. He stared at the redhead in the painting. "Is THAT Ava?"

Linderman turned and studied the painting. "It does look like her, doesn't it?" Thompson nodded. "Perhaps it will be her one day."

"Interesting." Thompson turned and followed Linderman out of the room, stopping as the corner of another painting caught his eye. He noticed that it was half-hidden by another canvas. Linderman watched as Thompson moved the canvas to stare at the painting. A woman with red hair lay in a hospital bed, her throat covered with a bandage. She appeared to be hooked to life support. A man with dark hair sat beside her, his face buried in her stomach as he clutched at her hand. "Very interesting. Is this Ava too?"

Linderman shrugged. "Does it look like her?"

Thompson snorted. "It does, actually. Oh well, it's going to suck to be her, won't it?" Smirking, he turned and followed Linderman out of the room.

Linderman glanced at Thompson over his shoulder, then turned away, his mouth screwing up with distaste. "Yes, I suppose it will suck to be her if she is indeed the woman in the painting."

* * *

June 12, 2007

Noah looked up from the couch in his quarters as Claire came into the room, bundled up in a sweater. "Is your room as COLD as mine?" She shivered as she sat on the couch next to him.

"We're in Alaska, Sweetie. It's going to be cold." Noah chuckled as his daughter snuggled beside him. "I've been here before and I have to say, it's not going to get much warmer. Just be glad you're here in the summer."

"THIS is summer?" Claire shook her head. "Yikes!"

"Tell me about it." Noah sighed. "I thought you were going to try and go back to sleep."

"I was, but it was too cold." Claire sighed. "I guess I'm just spoiled, being used to the Texas heat, but this is just unreal."

"Wait until we have to go outside for our daily run." Noah started laughing at Claire's horrified expression. "What?"

"I went exploring the compound and saw a gym with a bunch of treadmills and elliptical machines. I figured we'd just work out on those. We're going to have to go OUTSIDE?"

"We'll probably use the gym when the weather's too nasty, but yes, we're going to be running and exercising outside when the sun's out. It's not good for us to be stuck inside all the time. Haven't you ever heard of cabin fever?"

Claire made a face and shook her head. "I'd rather go nuts than have to run in the snow." She turned as someone knocked on the door and smiled as Ava walked into the room. "Hey! Is your room as cold as ours are?"

Ava nodded. "Yeah, it is." She turned to Noah. "I thought this place was supposed to have central heat!"

"It does!" Noah sighed. "You're just spoiled, too!" He shook his head as Ava sat on the couch with him and Claire. "How's Sylar?"

"Okay." Ava shrugged. "Physically he's okay, at least."

"He having trouble with his near-death experience?"

"Maybe." Ava shook her head. "No, I don't think so, actually. The docs released him from medical early yesterday morning and we spent most of the day sleeping."

"Sleeping? Uh-huh, right." Claire snorted.

Ava blushed as Noah raised an eyebrow at her and Claire. "Um, anyway, I finally got up to make us some lunch. He was fine when I left, but when I came back about an hour later, he was seriously freaked out about something. He tried to cover and say that he was just tired and overexerted himself by getting out of bed and taking a shower, but I knew better. Something scared the hell out of him. Soon afterwards, he started trying to convince me that I should stay a brunette. He was pretty insistent on it, actually, but he just kept saying that he liked the brown hair better and it reminded him of when he met me when I was posing as Melissa McCain. That's when I told him that I had some red hair color that I was going to use to go back to my natural red. He got really upset about it. He kept trying to pretend that nothing was wrong, but he was scared to death. When I came back from the galley after washing the dirty dishes, the hair color was missing."

"Did you confront him about it?" Noah stared at her, concerned.

Ava nodded. "I told him that I knew he was freaked out and that I knew he got rid of the dye. He refused to talk about it. Now, he's not saying much to me and I'm not saying much to him. Every time I try to bring up what scared him, he shuts me down and leaves the room. I don't know what to do, Noah."

Noah sat back, his brow furrowed. "Want me to talk to him, see if he'll open up to me?"

"Could you?" Ava shrugged. "I don't know what to do with him. He's seriously upset about something and I don't know how to get him to open up about it, but I can't DO anything until he's ready to talk."

"I'll see what I can do." Noah patted her knee. "Where is he?"

Ava shook her head. "Wandering around with Claude somewhere. As soon as he got up this morning, he got dressed and sought him out."

Noah sighed as he stood up. "Maybe between me and Claude, we'll get him to talk." He walked out of the room as Ava sat back on the couch, sighing with relief.

* * *

June 19, 2004

Ava stretched out in Simon's bed and sighed as she rolled over and reached for him. She lifted her head sleepily as her hand brushed an empty pillowcase. "Simon?" She sat up, hearing the shower and lay back down smiling softly. The last few days with Simon had been great. He had moved her to his apartment after the first day and they'd spent every day since that waking up in the afternoon, strolling the streets of Bogota, eating in bars and restaurants and dancing until the wee hours of morning. They'd return to his apartment and fall into bed together to make passionate love until they'd finally doze off at dawn, exhausted. Simon had spent the last few days being completely and totally attentive to her, swearing his love and devotion every chance he could get. Ava cared about him as well, but realized that she wasn't in love with him. It was wonderful to be loved and fussed over, and she enjoyed having sex with someone she was actually attracted to and was gentle with her, as opposed to the brute force that Thompson used with her on every occasion, but she couldn't bring herself to love Simon the way he proclaimed to love her. She looked up, smiling as he stepped out of the bathroom. "Good afternoon." She whispered.

"And good afternoon to you, too." Simon climbed in bed beside her and pulled her into his arms, kissing her. "How did you sleep?"

"Very well." Ava nodded.

"And what do you want to do today?"

"The usual?" Ava giggled.

"Wander the streets, have dinner, dance and come back here for-" Simon wiggled his eyebrows.

"Sounds good to me!" Ava sighed as she stretched again. "I've never actually been on a vacation since I joined the company. You have no idea how much I'm enjoying this."

"Oh, but I do have an idea." Simon nuzzled her neck. "You've become a different person this week from the woman I met at the airport just ten days ago. You're relaxed, you smile more and I've actually heard you laugh."

"I forgot how good it felt to laugh." Ava turned in Simon's arms, facing him. "Thanks for that."

"You're very welcome. I love you."

"Thank you again." Ava kissed him quickly and climbed out of bed, grabbing a change of clothes as Simon watched her.

"Do you love me?" He asked.

Ava paused and glanced at him over her shoulder. "I don't know, Simon."

"Have you ever BEEN in love?"

Ava closed her eyes and lowered her head. "Yeah, I have."

"What happened?"

"I killed him. I had to." She glanced at Simon again as he stared at her, his eyes widening. "It was my job."

"I see." Simon nodded. "Tell me about it?"

Ava looked away, tears stinging her eyes. "I'd rather not." She struggled not to cry as Simon climbed out of bed and walked to her, wrapping his arms around her.

"I can see why you're reluctant to fall in love again. Perhaps though, you won't have to kill me." He kissed her cheek as she leaned against him.

"I really wouldn't want to do that." She shook her head and turned to him. "Can we talk later?"

"Of course." Simon kissed her and pulled her with him back towards the bed.

* * *

June 12, 2007

Noah walked into the gym, his eyes widening to see Peter sitting against the wall with Claude and Sylar. "When did you get here?"

"A few minutes ago." Peter smiled up at him. "Niki, Mohinder and I dropped off the kids and picked up Matt. Janice was pretty reluctant to let him go."

"Sandra was equally reluctant to say goodbye to me and Claire." Noah walked over to them and sat beside them. "What's going on?"

Peter glanced over at Sylar who nodded. "We're talking about stuff."

"Talking about what freaked him out yesterday?" Noah looked pointedly at Sylar. "I just talked to Ava. Wanna tell me what the hell's going on?"

"You can't tell her this if I do." Sylar looked over at Peter and Claude who nodded encouragingly at him. He sighed and handed Noah a sketch pad. "You know that I killed Isaac Mendez and took his power."

"Precognition through artwork, yes." Noah took the sketch pad and opened it, his eyes widening to see the sketch. "This is Ava."

"No shit." Sylar shuddered and looked away. "She's going to die."

"Maybe not." Noah struggled to keep his composure, his heart stopping as he studied the picture more. "Maybe she's just injured."

"Look at all of that blood. You can't lose THAT much blood and live, I know." Sylar hugged his knees to his chest, his expression tortured. "Trust me, I do know this."

"You lost a great deal of blood during your confrontation with Peter at Claire's high school and lived." Noah nodded. "Ava could survive this."

"She's DEAD!" Sylar snatched the pad from Noah's hand and held up the picture, his hand shaking. "It's obvious that she's dead!" He tossed the pad aside, shaking his head. "I can't let this happen to her, I WON'T let this happen to her!"

"That's why you tossed the hair color she had. You think that if she doesn't dye her hair red again, she'll survive this?" Noah asked as Sylar nodded.

Peter sighed. "I wish avoiding something like this were that simple, Dude. If you toss the hair color, odds are you'll just draw another picture of her like that with brown hair."

"Thanks, Pete, you're a big help." Sylar snarled.

Noah glared at him. "Getting sarcastic isn't going to help the situation."

"Neither will being flippant!" Sylar glared at Noah and Peter. "Or being calm! You two wouldn't be this blasé about it if I drew Claire or Niki lying in the snow like that!"

"You need to tell her about this drawing." Claude muttered. "She needs to know about it."

"Like hell she does." Sylar shook his head vehemently. "She doesn't need to know because it's NOT going to happen!" Noah, Claude and Peter watched as Sylar jumped up and started pacing the floor of the gym. "I'm going to protect her during the fight. I'm not going to leave her side. She's not going to die, not like that, not if I can help it."

"Sylar-" Noah started to speak and stopped as Sylar lifted a finger.

"-Don't talk to me about prophecies and how we all have to do our part and sacrifices have to be made and bullshit like that, okay? I know your daughter is in the middle of this too, I know you're worried about her and I know you're worried about all of them. I know you love Ava like a daughter too, but you don't understand what I'm going through right now." He turned to them, his eyes brimming with tears that he swiped at angrily. "I've never felt this way about anyone! I can't remember the last time I actually gave two shits about someone and now that I finally do, now that I think that maybe despite all of the shitty things I've done to people, including you and Pete, I'm actually going to have a future with someone who makes me happy, I find out it's all going to end? I CAN'T lose her! I know I deserve pain and suffering, but not at her expense! What the fuck did she do to deserve to die like a fucking dog in the snow here, besides love me and make me love her, huh? This isn't fair and it isn't RIGHT! I should be the one lying dead in the snow, not her!" He nodded. "This is what I get. This is what I get for forgetting my plan. I never should have cared about her or anyone else. I should have stuck to my game: killing, collecting powers, getting stronger and moving on." He glared at Noah. "But I went off track because of you. YOU put her with me! YOU made her be good to me, treat me like a human being, you made me LOVE her and now I'm going to have to watch her die and it's all YOUR FAULT! You're going to pay for that." As he lifted a finger at Noah, his eyes flashing angrily, Peter quickly waved his hand, slamming Sylar across the room against the opposite wall. Sylar struggled to move as Peter walked towards him, his arm raised to keep him still. "LET ME FUCKING GO! I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!"

"Calm the hell down!" Peter glared at Sylar angrily as Claude grabbed Noah's shoulder, turning them both invisible.

"I'm going to go nuclear right now, blast us all to kingdom come." Sylar snarled.

"Do it." Peter crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Sylar's eyes widened with surprise. "What?"

"Do it. Fucking do it then." Peter nodded. "Kill us all, including Ava. Turn this place into a crater. Claire and I will walk away but you, Claude, Ava and all of the others will die. Then Kane will be able to go out and destroy more lives. You can burn in hell knowing that you've taken out the people that are trying to help you and are trying to be supportive of you, the people that you've been working beside as a team for the last few weeks, the people that have become your friends despite the crap you've pulled in the past. Kill everyone who's looked past what you've done and tried to believe in you, for once in your sorry-ass life!" He nodded as Sylar sagged against the wall. "That's what I thought."

"And for the record" Noah's voice rang out in the gym "I wasn't going to give you a bunch of pap about sacrifice or anything else! I was going to tell you that I DO love Ava like a daughter. I've watched her grow up these last ten years and the idea of her dying here is just as heartbreaking to me as it is to you. I was going to tell you that I want to help you save her. We're all going to work together to make sure that EVERYONE makes it out of that battle alive. Ava doesn't have to die, Sylar. If we all work together, we could all get out of this. We can all defeat Kane and make sure that no one dies. If you're willing to do that instead of flying off the handle and threatening all of us, we can pull it off, but ONLY if you pull yourself together!"

"So can I make him bloody visible again? I feel like a ponce standing here with my hand on him." Claude muttered, unseen in the gym.

"You've just got your hand on my shoulder, jackass. Talk about feeling like a ponce when you put it in my ass."

"You'd like that wouldn't you?"

"Not especially, no."

Sylar smirked and lowered his head. "I'm not going to kill you." He sighed as Peter let go of Sylar and Noah and Claude reappeared in the gym. "So what are we going to do?"

Noah shrugged. "What I said. We're going to all work TOGETHER to make sure everyone makes it out alive. We're going to have to truly be a team."

"Okay." Sylar nodded. "I can do that."

"And you need to tell Ava what you drew. She needs to know. She might be able to defend herself better if she knows what could happen." Noah glared at Sylar. "And let her dye her hair back, you pissed her off hiding that dye."

"Speaking of them being forewarned-" Claude started to talk.

"What?" Sylar frowned. "What now?"

Peter shook his head. "We've got to tell them together with the whole group, minus my mother, of course."

"What's going on?" Sylar stared at them.

"There's another glitch. We're taking care of it and we'll tell both of you together, later." Noah sighed.

"It had better be soon." Sylar shrugged and looked at Noah sheepishly. "Sorry for freaking out on you and trying to kill you."

"You're worried about the woman you love." Noah glared at him again. "Just don't do it again or I'll break your fucking fingers."

"Yes Sir." They all turned as Kaito walked into the room, his expression grim.

"Noah, we need to talk." Kaito glanced over at the others. "In private."

"Is something going on with what we talked about earlier?" Peter frowned.

Kaito shook his head. "No. It's not that." He turned to Peter. "The doctors want to clear everyone for physicals. They're checking Ava, Candice, Claire and Niki out now. You and Sylar need to meet Matt in the clinic to get checked out as well. Hiro will join you in a few minutes. They're going to also examine you Claude, as well as Mohinder, Angela and Kaito. Noah and I will be checked out soon too."

Peter nodded, staring back at Kaito and Noah as he, Claude and Sylar left the room. Noah turned to Kaito. "What's going on?"

Kaito sighed as Hiro walked into the room. "There's an extension to the prophecy. I've just discovered it. I need to show you something." His expression grew sadder as Hiro placed a hand on their shoulders and teleported them out of Barrow.

Noah looked around the room they'd been sent to. "Where are we?"

"The basement of the Corinthian Hotel and Casino. Before his death, Daniel Linderman spent a great deal of time collecting artwork from Isaac Mendez. He had a gallery upstairs near his office where he kept some of his favorite works. That's where we found the Mendez painting that matched up with the prophecy that Hiro had been told in Japan. There were a few paintings that he had hidden away down here that we didn't find until recently, along with this." Kaito put on a pair of gloves and walked to a safe, quickly opening it. He pulled a scroll out as Noah flipped through a few canvases stacked against a wall.

Noah gasped as he found a painting of a red-haired woman lying in a hospital bed on life-support, a dark haired man clutching her. "Oh God, that's Ava."

Kaito nodded, his eyes lowering. "Seven years ago, Ava and Thompson went on a mission in Prague to collect information from a company that was in direct competition with us. She killed their lead scientist and took the research he had compiled."

"I remember." Noah nodded, his eyes never leaving the painting of Ava on life support. "Sylar can't see this." He whispered to himself.

"Along with research on people with powers in Eastern Europe, there was also mention of artwork from an artist who had an ability similar to Isaac Mendez. His name was Rudolf Ivanovitch. He died over seven hundred years ago. The artwork he drew foretold many things, from the fall of Czar Nicholas II, to the rise of Hitler, the rise and fall of Napoleon, the French Revolution, to the destruction on 9/11 and the 2004 tsunami that struck the Indian Ocean on Boxing Day." Noah turned to Kaito, his eyes widening as Kaito held up the scroll. "He also foretold the atom bomb, airplanes, cars, and the Industrial Revolution. He was considered a mystic and a sorcerer in Siberia and was considered by many around him to be a god. When he died, his artwork was hidden away. The company in Eastern Europe acquired the works and used them to try to predict and prevent catastrophes. After Ava killed their lead scientist and later, the heads of the company when they came here to force Linderman to turn her over to them, the group scattered and dissolved. Linderman acquired some of Ivanovitch's artwork including this scroll."

Noah stared at it warily. "What's on it?"

Kaito stared sadly at it. "The battle that our children and friends are going to have when they face Kane." He walked to a table with Noah and Hiro walking behind him and slowly unrolled the scroll.

Noah frowned. "It's blank."

"No, it's not." Kaito turned to Noah. "His artwork isn't to be seen, it's to be experience. To see the artwork and what he foretells, you have to touch it, if you dare. If you want to see the battle and what happens, you must touch the scroll."

Noah glanced at Kaito, noticing the gloves on the man's hands. He nervously reached out and placed his hands on the scroll. Kaito stepped back, placing a hand on his son's shoulder to guide him away as Noah began to gasp, his face filling with horror. Moments later he snatched his hands away, his eyes filling with tears as he stared at his hands, then looked at the scroll, his expression filled with anguish. "Oh GOD!" He looked over at Kaito. "No." He shook his head miserably. "Can we stop it?"

Kaito lowered his head for a moment and then raised it, his expression mirroring the heartbreak that Noah felt. "I don't think we can."

* * *

Spoilers:

Think the eight "warriors" are going to be the definitive members of the team? Think again! Someone's about to find out that they CAN'T fight and will be replaced.

The replacement does not endear him/herself to the other members of the group.

Noah and Kaito try to find a way to prevent the events in the scroll from taking place.

Ava and Sylar find out about Angela and the Company's plans for them and work with their friends to keep it from happening

Kaito tries to convince the other board members that Sylar deserves to live

Kane finds out where his adversaries are hiding

In flashbacks, Ava finds out about Linderman's plans for her while she tries to find a way out from under his and Thompson's thumbs.


	28. Chapter 28: The Newest Addition

Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Newest Addition

June 12, 2007

Noah stared at the scroll on the table, horrified as Kaito walked over to it. "I made the mistake of touching the scroll with my bare hands the first time I found it. I saw what you saw." He turned the scroll over, pointing out Cyrillic words on the back of it. "Along with the 'artwork' on the front, Ivanovitch also wrote a prophecy on the back that I had translated."

"When did you find this?" Noah asked.

"It was found last week. I had Hiro teleport me here late one night to see it. I've been debating on whether or not I should show it to you or the rest of the group, but I think that you should see it, even if no one else does, to know what we're going to be dealing with." Kaito nodded to the writing again. "It reads 'three sevens are twenty-one. The sky will darken in the twenty-first century and nine moons later, eight will battle their greatest threat in the cold of the snow, a cold that rivals Siberia."

"Three sevens are twenty-one?" Noah sighed. "It's the twenty first century. There was an eclipse last September. Nine months later will be July." His eyes widened. "Three sevens? The battle takes place on July seventh, 2007, right?"

"That's my assumption as well." Kaito continued to read the prophecy. "It reads 'four men, four women, all with extraordinary gifts. They fight the one with powers to defeat them all. Two men are his equal in powers, one with heart the other with darkness. Another is from the East, with time on his side, the other harnesses the powers of the mind.'"

"Peter is the heart, Sylar is the darkness. Hiro has time on his side and Matt harnesses the mind." Noah frowned. "But he can only read minds."

Kaito nodded. "His father was one of us, many years ago, part of the group that started The Company. His powers started out the same as Matthew's, but they grew stronger and he was able to do many things with his mind. He can control the minds of others. Anything the mind controls, Maury could control and Matt can do the same if he works at it. Molly mentioned someone once called 'The Nightmare Man', I believe she was referring to Maury at the time. He's gone off the grid. We've been trying to track him down for a while, but he's been very good at hiding. Bob Bishop, one of our board members, has his voting proxy. He used it to vote against sparing Sylar's life."

"I see." Noah turned to Kaito. "We're going to have to train Matt to start working on those other parts of his powers, aren't we?"

"If we want to win? Yes, we will." Kaito nodded to the scroll again. "'The four women are formidable, two with hair like the sun with one controlling the lightning, the other with the power to heal from any wound."

Noah frowned. "I know one is Claire, but what about Niki? I thought her power was super-strength? I saw someone with the power of electricity, but I thought it was a power that maybe Peter had picked up or something."

Kaito nodded as he continued to read. "'One has the power of disguise, the other has hair of fire. She has the heart of the darkness with the power of destruction on her side.'"

"That's Ava. She has Sylar's heart and her power is pretty damn destructive."

Kaito nodded. "'They will meet in the cold to fight the evil. Four will fall, but not mortally, one will fall and face a mortal wound, three will remain to send the evil to hell for eternity, at the cost of the heart of darkness' love. They will save the world from the evil, they will save all of their kind from destruction.'"

Bennet glanced over at the painting of Ava in a hospital bed. "I was afraid of that." He closed his eyes, remembering what he'd seen when he'd touched the scroll.

It had felt like he was standing in the middle of the battle, watching it as it unfolded. He'd leapt right into the middle of it. The eight were all dressed in body armor and wearing helmets. They were fighting against Kane fiercely, throwing kicks and punches at him, when they weren't attacking him with their powers. He turned and saw himself on the sidelines, behind a wall of snow with Kaito, Ando, Angela, Mohinder and Claude. Another man was with them as well, one he didn't recognize. He was older with glasses and a receding hairline. They were all dressed in body armor, minus helmets. Another person also stood on the sidelines, dressed from head to toe in the same body armor that the team wore, including a helmet. They watched the battle, a pack of medical supplies at their side, waiting to grab someone who fell. He watched as Kane lashed out at one of them, slashing them in the leg. The person yelled as they fell and he watched as Claude disappeared and ran to them, quickly pulling them behind the wall. Ava pulled off her helmet, grimacing as Claude began to quickly patch up the deep gashes to her legs.

"This is going to need stitches, Luv."

"Later." Ava glanced over the wall, smirking as she made Kane's head explode, then groaning as it quickly grew back. "DAMMIT! Why can't it be like a video game or something? I blow up his head X number of times and it STOPS growing back already!"

"Because life isn't a video game, Puss." Claude smiled affectionately at her as he bandaged her leg and tossed her helmet to her. "Get back out there."

Ava put her helmet back on and vaulted over the wall of snow, tackling Kane and rolling around with him as the others tried to pull him off of her. Kane shoved her away from him and ran towards one of the others, it was obviously Hiro holding the sword of Takezo Kensei. Kane turned as someone hit him with a bolt of lightning. He grabbed that person by the front of their armor and slashed his hand across, smirking as he threw them aside. The person was quickly dragged behind the wall, a slight trail of blood trickling behind them in the snow. Kane turned to another person as they attacked him, slashing at their arms and throwing them behind the wall as he advanced towards Hiro. Another person jumped between him and Hiro. Kane grabbed that person and shook them, flinging off their helmet as they kicked and screamed in his grasp. Bennet gasped to realize it was Claire.

"CLAIRE!" He heard his own voice ringing out as he saw himself diving over the wall towards her. Kane turned, smirking as he swiped out at him with his claws, knocking him to the ground. His glasses lay beside him as he lay on the ground unconscious, blood pooling through the armor at the slash marks on his chest.

"DAD!" Claire shrieked as she started punching Kane. He laughed as he shook his head watching as the slash marks he inflicted healed before his eyes.

"Your power's like mine, isn't it? It's of no use to me." He spat venom on her and threw her aside as he was tackled, laughing maniacally. He threw the person off, slashing at them as he tossed them in a heap beside Claire and Bennet. He turned and advanced on the others, fighting with them as Ava broke from the group and helped Claude and the other helmeted sideline member pull Bennet, a seizing Claire and the other behind the wall as the other injured person limped back out into the fray. Ava cradled Bennet in her arms, her expression miserable as Mohinder checked him out. "How is he?"

"He's unconscious and the wounds are deep, but he'll live." Mohinder nodded reassuringly at Ava as she applied pressure to Bennet's wounds while Angela, the helmeted member and their bespectacled companion tended to her Claire's rapidly healing flesh wounds. Finally, the man and the other person scooped her into their arms and ran with her towards the facility, yelling over his shoulder to Angela that Claire would be alright soon while warning his companion to avoid the venom that covered the girl's face and shoulders. Claude pulled off the other's helmet, revealing Matt. A deep gash ran across his shoulder.

"It's not bad, Mate." Claude whispered as he patched up Matt's injuries.

Ava shook her head. "This has to stop, NOW!" She gasped as she looked over the wall. "Candice is down."

"WHAT?" Mohinder jumped up with Claude and ran over the wall to get Candice.

Bennet watched as Angela began to talk to Ava, whispering as Ava glared at her. She slapped the older woman's hand away as she touched her, shaking her head and turning away. He listened as Matt began to talk. "We've got to find a way to distract him from Hiro long enough for him to stop time and teleport them, or at least long enough for him and Sylar and Pete to grab him to teleport." Matt shuddered. "Nothing's working. He's slashing through our body armor. He's seeing through Candice's illusions, he's pushing away anything I try to throw at him with my mind. I don't know what else to do."

Bennet watched as Ava turned to him, then glanced out at the fight fighting tears. She stared down at Bennet as he lay with his head in her lap. She leaned down, her lips moving against his ear as she stroked the top of his head. Finally, she gently moved him aside, directing Angela to continue applying pressure to his injuries and then, her expression filled with resolve, she sighed and stood, tossing her helmet to the side as she jumped over the wall, Matt screaming for her to stop as Bennet began to come around and tried to sit up, his expression filled with horror. Peter and Sylar were fighting with Kane, grappling him as he attacked Hiro. Claude and Mohinder were carrying Candice and another helmeted team member towards the wall. Claude stopped as he heard Matt's yells and dropped the person in his arms, charging for Ava as she ran towards Kane without her helmet. Kane looked up at her, her red hair a beacon in the snow as she tackled him. Smiling as they rolled away from the others, Kane rolled over until he was on top of her, smirking. "I've been waiting for THIS!" He spat venom on her as he slashed his hand across her throat. "If one doesn't do you in, the other will." He laughed as Sylar began to scream in anguish.

Bennet watched as Kane stood and tossed Ava aside like a rag-doll, throwing her face-down in the snow as blood pooled from the slash in her throat. She began to shudder with seizures as Kane turned to advance on Sylar, recognizing him by his scream. "Your girlfriend? She's gone now. What are you going to do about it?"

"I'm going to fucking KILL YOU!" He tackled Kane, the two of them fighting as the other two tackled him as well.

Bennet turned to see Claude running to Ava, he reached for her shaking ankle as he turned invisible.

"HIRO! DO IT NOW!" He heard Peter scream. As he turned, the four men disappeared, leaving a bloodied mark in the snow where they had been.

That was the last thing Bennet saw before he had snatched his hands away from the scroll. As he stared at it now, he wished he'd never touched it. "She's going to die. Kane's going to kill her, slashing her throat and spitting venom on her. It almost looked as if she was offering herself up to him as bait, a distraction so Hiro could concentrate on teleporting himself, Gabriel, Peter and Kane somewhere."

"I know." Kaito whispered.

"We have to find a way to stop it." Bennet wiped tears from his eyes. "If she dies, Sylar will snap and kill us all."

"Maybe, but not before we kill Kane first." Kaito's shoulders sagged as he turned to Hiro. "Can you take us back now?"

"Wait." Bennet shook his head. "The person who threw the lightning, it wasn't Peter, but it wasn't Niki either, and the prophecy doesn't mention her."

"No." Kaito shook his head. "After I saw the scroll, I began to suspect something. It's why I ordered the physicals on everyone. If my suspicions are correct, Niki will not be fighting with the other seven."

"Then who will?"

Kaito sighed. "After I first touched the scroll, I called a Bob Bishop. As I said earlier, he is a colleague of mine, someone who is one of the board members of the company. He runs the New York branches. There is a girl in his care, someone who he has taken care of since she was nine years old. She is as much of a daughter to him in his eyes as Claire or even Ava are to you. Her name is Elle." He rolled up the scroll with his gloved hands, his expression growing grimmer by the moment. "I didn't want her brought into this, Noah, but we may not have a choice. She's a loose cannon. She was sent to us by psychiatrists who had tried to treat her after she burned down her grandmother's home and cause a blackout in four counties. She was diagnosed as a psychopath with paranoid delusions. Bob has raised her and trained her as an agent since then. He was the man you saw in the 'artwork', who helped carry Claire to the facility."

"If this Elle is so dangerous, why bring her here?" Noah frowned as Kaito tucked the scroll into his jacket. "She could be a threat to the team."

"She's mentioned in the prophecy. She must do SOME good in the battle to be a part of it." Kaito sighed. "We're just going to have to treat her with kid gloves and hope that Bob can help rein her in when her impulses take over."

"And why are you keeping THAT?" Noah nodded to at the scroll. "We should burn it now before anyone else sees it."

Kaito glanced down at the scroll. "I think we're going to need it if we want to find a way to protect those we love. Perhaps there are clues to help us all in the battle, things we can use to be forewarned."

"I suppose." Noah shook his head. "Sylar can never find out about this. If he hears that Ava will almost certainly die in that battle, he'll snap. He used Isaac's power earlier and drew a sketch of Ava lying in a pool of blood in the snow. He freaked out over it, big time. I've already helped talk him down from a complete melt down just a few minutes ago, if he finds out about this, we're doomed. I know him, he'll try to kill us all and run with Ava, the prophecy be damned."

"You truly think so?" Kaito stared at Noah with alarm.

"I do." Noah nodded. "Up until now, the only thing Sylar has cared about was collecting more powers. Now, he cares about Ava. If he was so murderous in his pursuit for powers and self-preservation, imagine how he'll react if the woman he loves is threatened."

"You have a point." Kaito turned to Hiro. "We're not to discuss this with ANYONE, understood?"

Hiro nodded sadly, his head hanging down. "I understand, Father. I regret knowing that Agent Reese will almost certainly offer herself up as bait in the battle and die, but I know that in the end, her sacrifice will save countless others in the long run. I also know that if Sylar found out, he'd destroy anyone who threatened her, including all of us. He won't care about sacrifice, he won't care that she'll die saving others, he'll only care about saving her."

"Yes." Kaito touched his son's shoulder sympathetically as he turned to Noah. "Shall we return to Barrow?"

"Let's go." Noah sighed, his heart heavy as Hiro placed a hand on his shoulder.

* * *

July 21, 2004 

Ava stepped off of the plane, gasping at the dry Texas heat as she walked across the tarmac. She spotted Noah as he waited for her, leaning against his company car as she walked over to him, beaming. Hugging him as soon as she reached him, she laughed. "Hey! I'm so glad to see YOU!"

"Who else would have been here, huh?" Noah let her go. "You look different."

"Different good, or different bad?" Ava asked.

"Different good." Noah studied her and nodded. "You look a lot more relaxed and you've got quite a tan. I take it Columbia agreed with you?"

"It most definitely did!" She grinned as she climbed into the passenger seat of the car. "So I hear we've all gotten promotions, congratulations on yours."

"And congrats on yours as well!" Noah smiled at her. "I suppose I should thank you for my promotion. Thompson said that the board members were so impressed with the job you did, they promoted us all as a reward for your training."

"Then in that case, since you trained me, all of the thanks really go to you." Ava looked away, frowning. "So has Thompson already left for Austin?"

"He left yesterday." Noah sighed as he tapped the steering wheel. "We're now in charge of Odessa."

"Talk about the lunatics running the asylum!" Ava laughed as Noah cracked up, nodding his head.

"We'll try to keep it as sane as we can, deal?"

"Deal!" Ava leaned back in her seat, feeling freer than she'd felt in years with Thompson gone.

* * *

June 12, 2007 

As Noah, Kaito and Hiro arrived back at the compound in Barrow, their eyes widened as they heard Niki shouting from the clinic. They quickly half-ran towards it, exchanging worried looks as she yelled.

"Run the test AGAIN! This is NOT HAPPENING!"

"Niki, just calm down." They heard Peter say to her. "This is a good thing, really. I'm happy."

"But I'm PREGNANT? This is BULLSHIT!" They arrived in the clinic to see Niki pacing the floors, her expression a mix of shock and anger. She whirled around on the doctors. "Take the test AGAIN! It's a false positive, it has to be."

Dr. McCarthy sighed. "We'll run a blood test this time to test for pregnancy hormones in the blood, but I have to warn you, Ms. Sanders. False positives on a pregnancy test are few and far between."

"I'm one of those few and far between. I can't be pregnant, I can't be listed as unable to fight." She walked towards the doctor with tears in her eyes. "I have to fight, I have to be there."

"You can still join the support team on the sidelines to help the injured." Peter walked over to her, trying not to smile happily as he rubbed her shoulder. "But you'd better be fully suited up, helmet and all. I don't want anything happening to you or our child."

Niki sagged against him as the doctors drew blood from her arm and quickly left the room. She glanced over her shoulder at Noah, Kaito and Hiro, then noticed that the others had entered the clinic as well. Shrugging she shook her head. "Apparently I'm out of the fight. The doctors say I'm pregnant."

Ava smiled softly at her. "Is it too soon to offer congratulations, or are you going to throw something at me if I do?"

Niki laughed softly and then burst into tears as Peter hugged her. "It's not the right time."

"If every baby waited for the 'right time' to be born, this world would be seriously under populated."

"But I wanted to fight with all of you." Niki lifted her head from Peter's shoulder, her eyes hopeful. "Maybe if I'm pregnant I can still fight."

"You heard the doctors, if you're pregnant, you're not fighting." Noah noticed how Sylar perked up at this comment his eyes widening for a moment as he glanced surreptitiously at Ava before covering a quick smile. Matt turned to him, frowning. Peter smiled at Niki, ignoring the others around him. "Besides, I might be a pretty evolved guy, but I'm going to have to go Neanderthal on you with this one. My woman isn't fighting some venom-spewing freak while she's carrying my baby, got it? Hell, it'll be distracting enough for me knowing you're on the sidelines."

Niki smiled at Peter. "I really do love you sometimes, you know that?"

"I love you too, and I'm going to love our baby like crazy." They turned as the doctors walked back into the room, eyeing Niki nervously. Peter smiled excitedly at them. "Well, what's the verdict?"

Dr. McCarthy cleared his throat. "According to your serum BHCG levels Ms. Sanders, you are about six weeks pregnant." He stepped back, waiting for her to blow up.

Niki nodded. "Okay." She turned to Peter, giggling softly. "We're pregnant!"

"YEAH WE ARE!" Peter hugged her, laughing before he turned to everyone in the room. "WE'RE HAVING A BABY!" Everyone cheered and began to clap as Niki and Peter noticed Kaito and frowned. "Oh shit." He sighed as he walked over to Kaito. "This throws a huge wrench in the whole prophecy thing, doesn't it?"

Kaito shook his head. "Not at all." He shook Peter's hand before kissing Niki on the cheek. "Congratulations to you both." He looked around the room, his eyes meeting Noah's for a moment. "Actually, another prophecy has been found, and it cleared a few things up. I already suspected that Niki wouldn't be in the fight after all, and now I know that my suspicions were correct. There is someone that will be here soon, someone who I believe was the true other woman in the prophecy. Her name is Elle. She'll be coming here within the hour after I send Hiro to fetch her."

Peter's eyes widened. "There's another prophecy? What does it say?"

"The same as the others." Kaito cleared his throat as he looked around the room. "It just clarified the powers that each person would bring to the fight, one of those powers matches Elle's. She's also blond, like Niki."

"There's something you're not telling us." Matt nodded.

Kaito smiled at Matt ruefully. "Elle is not coming willingly. Her handler, the man who has raised her since she was nine years old is forcing her to come. She has a few issues, being in the custody of the OWI since she was a child. I would like for everyone to bear that in mind when dealing with her. In many ways, she is still a child, though she looks like a woman. She is also rather impulsive, so be careful around her, please." He turned to Ava and Claude. "I want both of you to work with her more than the others, take more time with her and her training. She's behind the rest for now. Catch her up."

"Okay." Ava nodded as Kaito turned to Hiro.

"Go to New York and bring Bob and Elle here. They've been on alert, waiting to see if they'll be needed. They should already be packed for this event."

"Wait." Ava glanced over at Sylar as she walked to Hiro, quickly whispering in his ear as she dug into her pocket and handed Hiro a small wad of cash. Hiro laughed softly and nodded to her before he stepped away and teleported from the room.

Sylar walked over to her, giving her a wry smile. "Told him to get you some more hair color?"

"Yes." Ava turned to him, her eyes flinty as she looked up at him. "You toss that, I'll just keep sending him or Peter to get more, or I'll get them to teleport me to a hair salon to have it done professionally. You're not stopping this."

"It's okay." Sylar leaned down as he kissed her cheek and stroked her hair. "I realize how much I miss the red. I was an asshole and I'm sorry."

Ava cocked her head to the side. "You are?"

Sylar nodded. "Extremely sorry." He glanced around the room before leaning down to whisper in her ear. "If you come back with me to our room right now, I'll show you just how sorry I am."

Ava blushed and smiled. "Oh, you'd better be so very, very sorry." As she started to leave the clinic with Sylar, Noah stepped in their way.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Sylar still hasn't had his physical and yours isn't finished."

Ava stared at him, confused. "But the doctors said I was done. I passed with flying colors."

Noah glanced at Sylar and then turned to Ava. "There was something they forgot." He took her arm and quickly led her to an exam room, nodding at the doctors to follow him as they entered the room. Ava frowned as Noah wrote a quick note to them and then left the room. The doctors stared at the note and then turned to Ava, handing it to her to read as well.

"You want me to get a what?" She sighed and nodded. "Fine." She glared at them. "Tell me you have a warmer room to do it in. It's cold enough in here without me having to drop trou and throw my legs into stirrups."

As Noah exited the exam room, Sylar stopped him. "What are you up to?" He asked.

Noah glared at him. "I could ask you the same thing. I saw the look on your face when Peter talked about Niki's pregnancy stopping her from fighting. I don't want Ava to get injured either, but tossing her birth control pills so you can knock her up isn't the way to stop her."

"I wasn't going to do that." Sylar muttered as he looked away, refusing to look Noah in the eye.

"No? What were you going to do then, attack your condoms with a pin?" He nodded as Sylar's ears reddened. "Concentrate less on keeping Ava OUT of the fight and concentrate more on protecting her DURING it. She's definitely in the prophecy and nothing you or I do will stop that." He walked away, his eyes sad as he muttered to himself. "Unfortunately."

* * *

July 21, 2004 

Ava waved to Bennet as he drove away and turned to enter her apartment building, sighing happily. She walked into her apartment and set her bag down, smiling as she walked through it, looking for the cameras Linderman had told her about as she sorted through what little mail had come for her during her absence. Among the items of mail, she found a package from Las Vegas. Frowning, she opened it to find the user's manual for the cameras hidden around her house as well as a remote control to automatically turn all of them on. "Oh Thompson, you have serious fucked with the wrong people, haven't you?" She giggled as she set the remote control in a caddy, hidden behind the ones that operated her television, stereo and DVD player. She groaned as she heard the buzzer to her apartment and answered the intercom, knowing what was about to happen next. "Yes?"

"Let me in." Thompson growled.

Ava quickly buzzed him in and grabbed the remote control, turning on the cameras before she put it away again. She answered the door, looking bored. "Congrats on the promotion."

"You too." He snarled as he walked inside. The moment she closed the door he grabbed her arm, spinning her around before he slammed her against the wall. "Did you say anything to Linderman?"

"No. Did you?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"It seems funny that you go off to Columbia and the next thing I know, you're getting a week long fuck-fest, excuse me 'vacation' with the perpetually horny Agent Lopez and I'm getting shuttled off to Austin."

"I thought Austin was a promotion." Ava smirked.

"It is, technically." Thompson edged closer. "But it just seems odd that suddenly, I'm placed further away from you. Mind explaining how that happened?"

"From what I understand, the higher-ups were impressed with my work and decided not only to reward me for a job well done, but you and Bennet for training me so well."

"Maybe that's all it is then." Thompson raised his hand to hit her for a moment, then laughed as she stared back at him unflinchingly. "You really do have ice water in those veins, don't you, Honey?" He sneered. "I would have thought Simon would have warmed you up a tad."

"What makes you think I slept with Agent Lopez?"

"Didn't you?" Thompson chuckled. "If you didn't, it would be a first for him." He turned his back to her as Ava frowned. "He's a serious horn-dog. I brought him into the organization and from the very first, he used his charms to get an untold number of women into bed. He could bat those big puppy-dog eyes at anyone: waitresses, society women, I even saw him take a devout little virginal thing into a church confessional once. He walked out an hour later strutting as he zipped up his pants, she wobbled out later, weak at the knees. Talk about seeing God, right? All he had to do was whisper to them, tell them how beautiful and extraordinary they were and how he'd never met anyone like them before and they were putty in his hands. The man's a walking sex-bomb. He tried with you too, didn't he?" He glanced at her over his shoulder, noticing the guarded way she glared at him. "Yeah, he did. If you didn't let him hit it, I bet he was disappointed as hell. But you did let him nail you, didn't you?" He grabbed her again, pressing her against the wall as he pressed his body against hers. "I'll give you a pass on that one. No one can resist Simon Lopez when he's working his mojo, but you're going to pay for it now." He began to nibble on Ava's neck as she closed her eyes, steeling herself for what was about to begin. "Oh, I'm going to make you pay big time for letting him into your pants." He glared at her. "Don't forget: I. Own. You."

He left two hours later. After she had showered, scrubbing herself raw, Ava unpacked in her bedroom and cleaned up the apartment before stretching out on the couch and pulling out the cell phone that she'd recently bought. The minutes on the disposable phone that Claude had given her had finally run out a few weeks earlier. This time SHE had bought two phones, mailing one to a Mr. B. Lugosi in Manhattan. She dialed the only number programmed into her phone and smiled with relief as Claude answered moments later. "Hey." She whispered.

"It's about time you finally called! I got this phone two weeks ago. Where have you been?" Claude asked as he wandered around the new home he'd made in the basement of a condemned building in the Bronx.

"On a mission. I've got some good news!" She smiled.

"Oh? What?"

"Thompson was fuckin' transferred!" She grinned as she rolled over on her side on the couch. "What was it Martin Luther King Jr. said? 'Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, I'm free at last!'?"

"Where was he transferred? Please tell me it was somewhere like bloody Siberia."

"Actually it was just to Austin. Noah's over the Odessa branch now and the Haitian and I are his seconds in command. He is still going to have access and he's still going to be over us, but he's also going to be VERY busy in Austin, so I won't have to deal with his bullshit as often as I used to." She grimaced. "He was just here though, reminding me of that, but I probably won't be seeing him again for a few months at the very least."

"Well, it's a start." Claude sighed. "So what about this mission you went on?"

"I was in Columbia, Bogota, actually. I'm going to be splitting my time between there and here now."

"Bogota, eh? Working with Agent Lopez?"

Ava sat up, frowning at the derisive tone in Claude's voice. "Yeah, why?"

"I met him a time or two. Watch him. He's got a bit of the wandering pecker syndrome."

"Oh really?" Ava's frown deepened.

"Uh-oh!" Claude's voice had a warning to it. "Tell me you didn't-"

"-NO!" Ava shook her head. "I didn't. But I'm glad you told me. I'll keep it in mind around him."

"I'm not saying don't have fun with him, God knows you could probably use it. I'm just saying don't believe him if he starts swearing his eternal love. I've seen him swear it to many a waitress in order to get under her skirt. Watch yourself around him."

Ava sighed. "I will. I've gotta go, okay? I just wanted to give you a heads-up as to the latest developments here. Take care of yourself, okay?"

"You too. Love ya, Kid!"

"I love you too." Ava hung up the phone, shaking her head. "Oh Thompson, I really hate it when you're right." She tossed the phone onto the coffee table, smirking as she lay back on the couch. Finally, she sat up and went to her computer, bringing up the video feed of the last two hours in her apartment. Wincing as she watched the way Thompson treated her, she quickly copied the file to a DVD. Looking thoughtfully at the disk, she took another out and burned the file to that one as well, tucking it away for safe keeping.

* * *

In Las Vegas, Linderman received a phone call. "Yes?" 

"Agent Reese just called our invisible man. We've triangulated his position in the Bronx. Shall we bring him in?"

"No. Leave him alone. Don't follow him, don't put a tail on him, leave him completely be." Linderman glanced at a painting he'd just received, of a blond bearded man standing on what was obviously the roof of the Deveaux building. He was swinging a metal rod at a young man with dark hair hanging in his eyes. "I'm going to need him around and I don't want him to dare suspect that he's been discovered."

"Yes Sir."

* * *

June 12, 2007 

Elle paced the floor of Bob Bishop's office in New York, sulking as he watched her. "You're going to wear a groove in that carpet, Young Lady."

Elle looked over at him and, with a gusty sigh, collapsed into a chair, pouting. "I don't want to go to fucking Alaska."

"Language." Bob said absently.

"Can't we just NOT go?" She whined as she sat up, her eyes pleading with him. "Please, Daddy. I don't want to go there. It's nasty and cold and-" she slouched in her chair again, twirling her hair "I don't want to go and fight some venom-spewing freak with a bunch of my fellow freaks. Can't they just have SEVEN on their team instead of eight?"

"You're in the prophecy, deal with it." Bob folded his hands as he smiled at her. "I'll be there too. You're not going to be alone in this. Now, you're packed, right?"

"Yes." Elle nodded to the bags piled up beside her chair.

Bob frowned. "You're not going to need your ENTIRE wardrobe, Elle."

"Yes I am." She sighed. "When's this Hiro guy getting here, anyway?"

"In a few minutes. Kaito called and said he was on his way."

Elle smiled. "Can't we just KILL him when he gets here?"

"Kill Hiro? You want to KILL Kaito Nakamura's son?"

Elle pouted. "Fine. I won't kill him." She looked over at Bob again. "Can I just zap him a little?"

"No." Bob sighed. "Everything's going to be fine, Elle. You'll do great there. Being part of a prophecy is quite an honor. Angela Petrelli's son is involved in it as well as Kaito's. I like knowing that you're going to have just as much glory as they are."

"Whatever." Elle jumped as Hiro appeared in the room. "What the fuck?"

"ELLE!" Bob glared at her. He grabbed his small bag and walked over to Hiro, shaking his hand. "Mr. Nakamura, it's a pleasure to meet you. Your father and I are old friends."

"It is nice to meet you as well." Hiro shifted the small bag in his hand as he turned to Elle, studying her with interest for a moment. She looked at him too, her eyes sparkling as she smiled up at him coquettishly. "Are you ready to go?"

"I suppose." Elle slowly stood up and glanced at her bags. "You sure you can carry all of that?"

"You just have to have your hand on them." Hiro waited as she touched her bags and placed a hand on her shoulder. He jumped back, yelping as a small spark shocked him.

Elle giggled. "Oops! My bad!"

"Elle." Bob's voice had a warning in it.

Elle nodded and turned to Hiro. "Sorry. It won't happen again." She shrugged as Hiro touched her shoulder again, then touched Bob, teleporting them to Barrow.


	29. Chapter 29: Meeting Elle

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Meeting Elle

July 12, 2007

Niki sat on a bench in the medical wing, staring at the test results in her hand. Smiling to herself, she shook her head and folded them up, tucking them in her pocket. "Micah's going to flip when he finds out." She whispered to herself. She looked up, frowning and then smiling as Hiro appeared. He was accompanied by a tall, balding man with glasses and a petite blond who sulked as she stood beside Hiro, her hand placed on a stack of suitcases. "Wow!" Niki stood and walked over to them. "That was pretty fast." She turned to Elle, smiling as she held out her hand. "You must be Elle. Welcome to Barrow, Alaska, I'm Niki."

"Bob Bishop." The man stepped in front of Elle, shaking her hand quickly. "This is Elle." He turned to his ward. "Behave yourself, do you understand?"

"Don't I always?" Elle muttered as Bob walked away from her, giving her one final warning look. She rolled her eyes at his back before turning to Niki. "So, where's the knocked-up tramp?"

Niki frowned. "Ex-CUSE me?"

"You know, the bimbo who got herself in the family way? The reason I'm here? Who's the dumbass who doesn't know what a birth control pill is for or doesn't know how to put on a condom?" She smirked. "Oh, I'm not saying it's you, you look like you've had plenty of experience applying safety measures, I'm just wondering who the idiot is that got themselves totally preggo so I had to end up being forced to come here." She nodded as Candice walked out of one exam room. "Oh hold the phone, it's probably her. Check out the pleated mini-skirt. It just screams 'public transportation' doesn't it?" She noticed as Claire walked into the clinic with Noah, his arm slung across her shoulder. "EW! It's not her is it? Granted, she sort of screams 'afterschool special', but I hope she's not the one whose stick turned blue, especially if he's the baby daddy." She glanced over at Niki, ignoring the way she was glaring at her. "Not that I'D kick him out of bed or anything because ROWR, but she's a tad young for him. Hell, he looks like he could be her father, not her boyfriend." She turned and spotted Ava as she stepped out of one of the exam rooms, frowning as she finished buttoning her pants. "Oh and we have a WINNER! That's the pregnant idiot, right?" She turned to Niki for confirmation and frowned as she finally noticed Niki's furious expression. "What?"

"Hey you!" Elle and Niki turned as Ava walked over to them, smiling.

"Hey." Niki cocked her head at Elle. "This is the new addition that Kaito told us about."

"Elle, right?" Ava nodded. "Nice to meet you." She glanced over at Niki, noticing how she rolled her eyes.

Elle smirked at her. "Yeah, I'll bet you were glad to find out that I was coming."

"So what did Noah want the doctors to do to you in the clinic?" Niki asked.

"He wanted them to insert an IUD to keep me from getting sidelined with you." Ava sighed.

Niki blanched. "Shit, I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be." Ava hugged her. "Don't be sorry about a thing, Little Mama." She laughed. "Is it too soon to call you that?"

"Not at all." Niki turned and glared at Elle as the girl's eyes widened. "Yes, I'm the idiot who doesn't know how to put on a condom. I do, actually but there is this thing called 'the heat of the moment', obviously you've never heard of it."

Elle blushed and looked away as Ava stared at her, her brows furrowing together. "Oops." She gasped as Peter and Sylar both walked into the clinic, followed by Mohinder and Claude. "Oh hello Salty Goodness times four!" She smiled as she watched the four men walk into the room and head towards Noah and Claire. "God, any of those men could keep me very warm here in Barrow, they could definitely heat up the chilly nights."

"Really?" Ava watched her as she stuck her index finger in her mouth, practically drooling over the men. "Which one?"

"Hell, any of them!" She nodded to them as Hiro and Ando walked over to the group of men, ignoring Candice and Claire as they headed in her direction. "I mean, just look at all of them, you've got every type of hottie you can think of. You've got dark and brooding, exotic and sexy, boyish and charming, geeky yet adorable, blond and swarthy or older yet seriously still fuckable. Talk about a silver lining in one nasty cloud."

"What's up?" Claire asked as she and Candice walked over to them.

"Nothing." Niki glared. "We're just watching Elle drool over our boyfriends."

"And my mentors, and your father and uncle." Ava laughed.

"Say what?" Elle turned as the four women crossed their arms and stared at her. "So ALL of those guys are taken or related to all of you?"

"Most of them are, yeah." Claire frowned at her. "So you're Elle?"

"Yeah." Elle nodded as she glanced back at the group of men. "So which one of them is dating which one of you?"

"Sexy and brooding is mine." Ava nodded. "And exotic and sexy is very involved with Candice."

"And boyish and charming is mine." Niki glared.

"He's also Claire's uncle. Also, older yet still fuckable is her father." Ava laughed as Claire's eyes widened.

"EW!" Claire stared at her. "You said THAT about my DAD?"

"Well, I have to agree with her there." Niki nodded as Claire gasped. "What? Your dad's pretty hot."

"I agree." Candice grinned. She glanced at Ava. "Well?"

"He's like a father to me, I've never noticed." She looked away as Candice began to giggle.

"You LIAR!" Candice shook her head as Ava blushed. "Lying liar who lies, you know Noah's got this angry hotness going on."

"You two are so gross." Claire grimaced. "You're talking about the man I call Daddy, thank you."

"I wouldn't mind calling him Daddy." Candice giggled.

"What about the blond?" Elle asked.

"He's my mentor." Ava glared at her.

"Yeah, but is he single?"

"Shall I answer that by demonstrating my powers?" Ava stepped towards her as Niki grabbed her arm.

"Whoa! Slow your roll there, Slugger!" Niki sighed. "And I thought I was going to be the first one to threaten her with a beat-down!"

"What did I do?" Elle rolled her eyes as she turned back to the men. She groaned as Hiro and Ando laughed at something Peter said, leaning on each other for support. "Shit! So I'm trapped here with men who are either taken or gay!"

"Who's gay?" Ava asked. She shook her head as she noticed Hiro and Ando. "Honey, they're both straight as rulers, trust me. Ando keeps talking to my boobs when he gets up the nerve to talk to me at all and Hiro blushes and stammers whenever any of us smile at him."

"Oh?" Elle shrugged. "Good to know, then." She noticed Matt as he strolled into the clinic. Before she could say anything, Ava shook her head.

"Married, wife's pregnant and she's due any day."

"Shit." Elle's shoulders slumped. "This place SUCKS!" She turned to walk away from the girls as Bob walked into the room with Kaito and Angela. He nodded to her as he held up his hands.

"Attention please!" Everyone turned to him, frowning as he smiled. "I am Bob Bishop, and I'm sure a few of you have met Elle, she's going to be your new team member to replace Ms. Sanders." He clapped his hands together. "We're going to have a power demonstration in the gym, follow me please!"

"Power demonstration?" Ava turned to Niki, Claire and Candice. "What the fuck is he talking about?"

"I'm not demonstrating my powers." Claire shook her head. "He looks like someone who'd want me to get shot to show that I heal, and I'm not doing THAT!"

As they filed out of the clinic, Candice took Ava's arm, grinning. "So you SERIOUSLY never looked at Bennet and thought he was totally hot?"

"I said I've never thought about it, okay? He's like a father to me." Ava sighed.

"So you're saying that you never looked at him and just, you know, wondered?"

"Wondered what, exactly?" Ava glanced at her.

"YOU KNOW." Candice shrugged. "Hell I first noticed it when I went to New York with him to impersonate Simone Deveaux to get Isaac Mendez's ass out of a sling after he killed her. I messed with Isaac's mind a little bit and Noah got all stern and angry with me. It was very hot, I have to say. I mean, when I had to impersonate Sandra afterwards to get Bennet to implicate himself and admit that he'd hidden Claire and was working against the company, I was very disappointed that he gave himself away so fast. I was sort of hoping that he'd take his time, hang out a while, maybe want to spend some quality time with his wife, if you know what I mean. I was actually pretty disappointed that all I got was one chaste little peck on the lips before he blabbed." She smirked at Ava's horrified expression. "What? He's an attractive man, Ava. You're saying that if you were the last woman on earth and he were the last man and the fate of the human race depended on the two of you-"

"-Unless he dated a specimen cup and I dated a turkey baster, the human race would die out, sorry. He's like a father to me, end of story."

"Repressed, much?" Candice shook her head. She jumped as Sylar walked up behind her, his lips pressing against her ear.

"Fantasizing about Noah now? I'm a little jealous, I thought you preferred watching the 'Little Gladiator' in action through homemade porn when you weren't tackling Dr. Suresh." Sylar purred as Ava laughed softly.

Candice blushed and ducked her head down. "I haven't watched any of your home movies in quite a while, thank you. Besides, there's nothing wrong with looking."

"What does Mohinder think about that?"

"Like he doesn't look too?" Candice rolled her eyes. "I don't think he'd care if I looked, as long as I only touched him."

"Really? Let's ask him about it." As Candice's eyes widened, Sylar nodded and raised his arm. "Hey Mohinder!"

"Shut up!" Candice hissed, popping Sylar on the arm as he laughed.

Mohinder turned to them, frowning as Sylar shook his head. "Nothing, never mind." He grinned at Candice. "What's wrong Candy? I thought you said Mohinder wouldn't mind."

"Just shut up, okay?" Candice glared at him.

"Fine." He threw an arm around Ava's shoulders. "Stop trying to corrupt my girl." He winked at Candice before kissing Ava on the cheek. "After this little power demonstration, you want to spend some alone time in our quarters?"

"Very much so." Ava nodded as Sylar grinned and walked ahead of her. She glanced over at Candice. "Okay, I'll give you a freebie here." She sighed as she waited for Sylar to walk ahead. "I've noticed."

"I knew it." Candice nodded. "And?"

"I'm not saying anything else except that I've noticed. That's all of the incriminating evidence you'll get from me." Ava laughed as they entered the gym. She frowned as she stared at the array of objects arranged on a table in front of them, noticing the three watermelons that were placed on the table. "Oh great, THAT kind of power demonstration." She muttered.

* * *

February 12, 2005

"I hate it that you have to go back to Odessa so soon." Simon lounged in bed, watching as Ava dressed. "Are you SURE you have to go back already? You've only been here two weeks."

"I'm sure." Ava turned to him, smiling. _Dirty little dog, aren't you? What's your angle with me?_ She wondered as she buttoned up her shirt.

"Stay, for two more days." Simon sighed. "Stay for Valentine's Day."

"I can't. Bennet called, I'm really needed in Odessa. Apparently they have a tag and bag for me to help out with."

"He can do that with that Haitian that he works with." Simon climbed out of bed and circled behind Ava, wrapping his arms around her waist as he nuzzled her neck. "Stay. Get undressed, get back in bed with me and just, stay."

"I would if I could." Ava sighed as she leaned against him. Ever since she'd been told about his wandering eye, Ava realized that his words of love were almost definitely false. Still, she enjoyed spending time with him and truly enjoyed having sex with him. Just because he was a liar didn't mean that she had to stop sleeping with him, especially since he was certainly more enjoyable to be with than Thompson. It simply meant that she had to protect her feelings, and not fall in love.

Simon groaned with frustration against her neck. "You're going to make me pull out the big guns, aren't you?" Ava felt him pull away from her a moment and heard a drawer opening behind her. Her eyes widened as a pendant was dangled in front of her eyes. "Happy Valentine's Day, even though it's two days early."

Ava reached out and touched the pendant, smiling softly as she studied it. It was heart-shaped and studded with diamonds. "It's very beautiful." She nodded.

"It pales in comparison to you." Ava tried not to smirk as Simon unclasped the chain and deftly placed the pendant around her neck. He turned her around, smiling as he studied it. "The perfect thing to compliment your beauty."

"Thanks." Ava glanced down at the pendant. "I didn't get you anything."

"Then stay for two more days." Simon began to kiss her, then sighed as Ava pulled away.

"I can't, I'm sorry." She pecked him on the cheek as she reached down to grab her bag. "I wish I could stay, but I really do have to go."

"Fine." Simon frowned as Ava headed for the door. "I love you!" He called to her.

Ava turned and smiled at him. "I know you do. I have a plane to catch. I'll miss you." She nodded as she turned and walked out, quietly closing the door behind her.

Simon climbed back in bed, his frown deepening as he picked up his phone and dialed it. "Yes Sir, It's Lopez. Reese just left."

Linderman sat in his office, staring out the window at the Las Vegas Strip. "Oh? How are things going with you two lovebirds?"

"Fine, I think." Simon shrugged.

"You THINK?" Linderman's eyes narrowed, an edge to his voice. "Either you know that things are going well, or you know that they aren't. 'I think' is not an answer, Agent Lopez."

"She's distant, Sir." Simon sank down against the pillows of his bed.

"Distant?"

"We are still lovers, but she doesn't seem to have much affection for me. I think she's just into the sex, nothing more. When I tell her that I love her, or beg her to stay when she's leaving, she doesn't tell me that she loves me back and she blows me off. I even gave her a necklace for Valentine's Day. It cost me a lot of money, Sir. She just stared at it like it was a simple trinket, thanked me for it and left. What do I do?"

"Tell me something Simon. I know of your reputation, it precedes you, you're actually rather notorious for it."

"Reputation?"

"You're a pussy hound. It's one of the reasons I chose you for her, actually, along with your interesting power. You know how to get women to fall head over heels in love with you. I thought you'd be able to do that as well with Agent Reese. Perhaps I've been mistaken in choosing you and your talents when it comes to her. She's been used and abused quite a bit by people she's trusted. I thought she'd be starved for affection, but perhaps her history has left her somewhat leery of men who seem too overeager to get her into bed. Have you ever demonstrated your lothario ways around Agents Thompson, Bennet or Raines? I know you've had dealings with them in the past."

Simon sighed. "Yes."

"They've seen you in action?"

"Yes, they have." Simon frowned. "I know Agent Raines is dead, but would Thompson or Bennet gossip about me?"

"Thompson would tell her in a heartbeat. He doesn't want her having sex with anyone but himself."

"Excuse me?" Simon gasped.

"Oh yes. Thompson has been systematically raping her for the last seven years. I just found out. This stays between us, by the way. No one else knows for now. I'm using Thompson for a project, but after I'm finished with him, I've given Ava permission to take him out."

"Of course." Simon closed his eyes. "That poor girl. And Bennet?"

"Bennet is extremely protective of her. He thinks of her as his daughter and if he thought for a moment that you were trying to seduce her, I have no doubt that he'd warn her of what he's seen of your actions in the past." Linderman sighed. "You stupid idiot."

"I'll fix this. I swear I will." Simon nodded. "I just have to find a way to make her believe that my feelings for her are real."

"ARE they real?" Linderman purred into the phone.

Simon smiled softly. "They're getting there. It's been a long time since a woman actually gave me a run for my money. She intrigues me."

"Then show her how much she intrigues you and make her think that you're as head over heels for her as you want her to be for you, and trust me. You WANT her to love you. You WANT her to adore you. You won't like what happens to you if she doesn't. Do you understand?"

Simon grimaced. "Yes Sir, I understand."

"Good. Get on it."

Simon listened as the line went dead, and closed his cell phone. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Shit." He muttered.

On the plane, Ava reached into her shirt and pulled out the necklace, staring at the pendant as it sparkled. "I have to admit. He's very good." She smirked as she tucked the pendant back into her shirt.

* * *

June 12, 2007

Elle looked around the gym, her expression bored as Niki set down the weights that she'd been given. "So she's like She-Hulk, big woo." She muttered.

Sylar glanced over at her. "She's a little bit of a bitch, isn't she?" He whispered to Ava.

"Oh, you have no idea." Ava smiled at him. "She also must really like the way her foot tastes, the way she keeps sticking it in her mouth. She pissed off Niki the moment she arrived and wanted to know who the slut was that was stupid enough to get knocked up, bringing her here."

"She said that to Niki?" Sylar's eyes widened. "And she's still breathing?"

"For now." Ava shrugged.

"Very good Ms. Sanders." Bob nodded at her. "Tell me, is there a baseline for your powers, a limit, perhaps?" He sighed as Niki stared at him. "Have you ever tried to see if there's a limit to how much you can lift?"

Niki shook her head. "No, and I'm not going to try now." She tried not to grin as she touched her stomach. "You wouldn't want me to do something too strenuous in my 'delicate condition' and jeopardize Angela's unborn grandchild, now would you?"

Bob glanced over at Angela as she glared at him. "Oh no, I wouldn't. Thank you." He looked around. "Agent Reese? Can we see a demonstration of your powers?"

"Knock 'em dead." Sylar whispered to her.

"I wish." Ava got up and walked over to Bob as he smiled at her. "Well?"

"You know what to do. I want Elle to see everyone's powers at work, so she'll know how strong her fellow teammates are. She's been a tad nervous about joining everyone."

"I see." Ava turned to the table and stared at one of the watermelons, pushing out with her power. Bob jumped as the watermelon quickly exploded, spraying him with pieces of it. She turned to him, smirking. "How was that?"

"Oh, fine." Bob said nervously as he brushed watermelon chunks off of his jacket. "Psionic bullets?" Ava nodded. "Very good."

"That really scared the hell out of you, didn't it?" Ava cocked her head to the side. "I can tell."

Bob glanced at her, his eyes widening for a moment before he turned to Sylar. "Your turn."

"Talk about someone you should be scared of." Ava snorted as she walked past Sylar. "Have fun Baby."

Bob nodded to him. "Go ahead."

"With?"

"Your power, of course." Bob nodded again.

Sylar smirked. "Which one? I have super hearing and can hear a pin drop from across the compound and I also have eidetic memory. I can remember every single thing about anything I read about, see or listen to." Bob's eyes widened again as Sylar lifted his hands, ice forming on them. "I can do this." The ice quickly melted as Sylar's hands began to glow. "Or this, it's nuclear, by the way. Or I can just do this." He waved his hand, slamming one of the watermelons against the wall before he twitched his fingers, causing it to fall back to the table, cleanly sliced in two. "That's what I used when I was stalking people to steal their powers. That's how I opened their heads and took their brains. Or I could-"

"-Very good!" Bob quickly said as he stepped away from Sylar. "Very good indeed." He looked around nervously as Sylar smirked and walked back to Ava. Ava's eyes narrowed as she noticed how hungrily Elle stared at him. Bob shuddered as he turned to Peter. "Your turn."

"Which one?" Peter smirked as he continued to sit on a bench.

"Oh dear." Bob glanced over at Sylar again. "You have multiple powers too?"

"Well, yeah. It's called empathic mimicry. Every power I come in contact with, I absorb." Peter grinned at Bob. "I have Elle's power now too." He raised his hand, shooting a bolt of lightning towards the final watermelon, making it explode. And I've got your power now as well." He reached over to grab a dumbbell, smiling as it turned into gold. "Damn," he whispered as he set it down "I could probably retire with that."

"Show off." Niki grinned at him.

"Always." Peter winked at her.

Bob looked around the room, nodding. "So, we've seen everyone's powers now." He turned to Elle. "And now you know what kinds of powers your new friends here have. Are you feeling better now?" Elle ignored him as she studied Sylar, watching as he and Ava talked together, his hand rubbing her thigh. "Elle?" Bob sighed. "ELLE!"

She jumped and turned to him. "Yes Sir?"

"I asked you if you're feeling better about being here, now that you know that your teammates are all quite powerful."

Elle smiled brightly. "Oh, I feel wonderful!" She clapped her hands together as she nodded. "I can't wait to start working with everyone." She turned to study Sylar again as Matt and Peter stared at her in shock. "So when do we all start training together?"

Bob nodded to Claude who turned to her, frowning. "Get plenty of sleep, you're going to need it. We've all been training together for nearly a month now, getting ready for combat. You've got some catching up to do."

"Sure." Elle said absently as she glanced back over at Sylar, her eyes narrowing as Ava giggled at something he whispered in her ear.

"You'll start training with the group first thing tomorrow morning, you and your father both are." Claude told her.

Bob stared at him. "Me too?"

Claude smirked at him. "Yes, you too. If Angela and Kaito are running and training with us, you can as well." He turned back to Elle, clearing his throat until she tore her eyes away from Sylar and turned back to him. "Along with training with the group, you'll also be trained alone with myself and Agent Reese." He nodded to Ava. "It's to help you get caught up. You're going to be a fighting machine by the time Kane figures out where we are and shows up to fight."

"Sure, fine." Elle shrugged. "I can do that. Who's Agent Reese again?"

"Ava." Claude sighed. "Remember?"

Elle's smile faded as she turned back to Ava, noticing the way that she leaned forward and smiled at her. "Oh, you're going to be giving me the extra training?"

"That's right." Ava nodded, her eyes glittering.

"Uh-huh." Elle slumped down in her chair as Bob shook his head at her.

"It has to be done, Honey. You have to be able to fight back when Kane shows up here."

"Whatever." Elle muttered. "Are we done here?"

"Yes, I suppose we are." Bob sighed.

"Good. I want to go to my room and unpack." She turned to Peter. "And since you picked up your baby mama's talent for carrying heavy stuff, you can bring my bags to me. It's the least you can do after knocking her up and forcing me to come here." She stood and walked out of the room as Peter glared at her.

Bob smiled nervously at the group. "She likes to test boundaries."

"Really?" Ava snorted. "That's very interesting. My foot likes to test them too. It's itching to test the boundaries of her ASS!" She stood and walked out of the room with Sylar walking behind her.

As everyone else filed out of the room, leaving Bob with Kaito, Claude, Angela and Bennet, Matt leaned towards Peter. "Did you HEAR what she was thinking about Sylar? Good thing Ava's not a mind reader, huh?"

Peter nodded. "She'd have given that Elle a major power demonstration if she knew how hot Elle was for him. I swear to God I started blushing at some of the things that ran through that girl's mind. And did you hear what she told me to do? I'm going to take those suitcases to her room alright. I'm going to take them and shove them up her ass!"

"Considering what she thought when she looked at Sylar, she might like that." Matt laughed.

"Did you read Sylar's mind when he saw her?" Peter grinned. "Ava has nothing to worry about. I think Elle could walk around naked in front of him and he wouldn't pay her a second look. He's definitely NOT interested in her."

"Not like Hiro is, that's for sure." Matt turned to Peter. "Someone's got a crush."

"And if she hurts his feelings, I'll crush her. He's too good for her." Peter sighed.

After everyone left, Bob sighed as he turned to Kaito, Claude, Bennet and Angela. "Just give her some time, she'll fit in soon, I'm sure."

Angela glared at him. "You know, when we gave her to you to raise, we expected you to instill a FEW people skills in her while you trained her to be an agent. Bennet did it with Ava, why couldn't you?" She sniffed as she walked away, Kaito, Bennet and a smirking Claude following behind her.

* * *

February 12, 2005

Ava grinned at Bennet as she walked towards his car. "You know, you don't always have to pick me up, you know."

"It gives me an excuse to leave the office." Bennet took her bag and tossed it in the trunk. "How was Columbia?"

"The usual. Boring." Ava climbed into the car and grinned at Bennet. "Got any plans with Sandra?" She gasped as Bennet stared at her, confused. "Valentine's Day is TWO days away, Noah! You'd better have something planned for her."

Noah closed his eyes. "Shit."

"You didn't!" Ava shook her head. "NOAH!"

"I've been busy and-" he sighed "-it's probably too late to order roses."

"Yeah." Ava nodded. "Unless you want to pay through the nose for half-wilted ones, it IS a little late."

"I'll think of something." Noah started to crank the engine and stopped, staring at Ava. "What's that?" He reached out, lifting the pendant that hung around her neck. He whistled softly as he studied it. "And WHO gave you THIS?"

"Simon." Ava whispered.

"Simon LOPEZ?" Bennet sighed. "Okay, we need to talk about him. I didn't want to say anything before, but if he's giving you such obviously expensive gifts-"

"-He's a dog, I know." Ava smiled at him. "Don't worry, I'm not going to lose my heart to him."

"Are you two-?" Noah sighed as Ava shrugged. "Oh Ava."

"Don't worry, okay? I'm fine. I know he's a hound, I know I'm not the only woman in his life, I'm just having a good time. There's no need for you to freak out or anything."

"I've been around him. I know how he operates." Noah gave her a warning look. "And you're right, I doubt you're the only woman in his life."

"This isn't a Brighton O'Roarke situation. It's true, I'm sleeping with him, but I know better than to believe a single word he says to me." She smiled softly at him. "And it's sweet of you to worry and be all paternal and protective of me, but there's no need. It's just sex."

"I really don't want to hear the rest of this." Noah cranked up the engine and glanced at the pendant again. "He must have spent a lot of money on that."

"Maybe, if it's real." Ava glanced down at it, shrugging. "Doesn't matter. I'm sure he's just using it to try and get me to say that I love him back."

"Do you love him?"

"No." Ava shook her head. "I don't." She turned away from Noah, avoiding the sympathetic look on his face. "It's not for me. Falling in love isn't right for someone like me, you know? It's better for me to just have flings with no strings attached. My life can't have anything more than that in it."

"That's not true, Kiddo. You should find someone to love you. You deserve to fall in love and be loved back." Noah nodded sadly. "You shouldn't be alone."

"I'm fine with it." Ava tucked the pendant back into her shirt. "I'm an assassin for a shadowy agency. Love, marriage and a white picket fence doesn't exactly fit into that kind of lifestyle." She turned to Noah, smiling at the sad expression on his face. "Oh, don't look at me like I just kicked a puppy, sheesh! Let's not worry about my nonexistent love life, okay? At least I'm getting some, which is more than you'll be getting unless you get something for Sandra for Valentine's Day. I knew I lied to get home for a reason."

"Lied?" Noah frowned.

"I told Simon that you were calling me back for a tag and bag. He was getting a little too clingy." She shrugged. "So? We need to think of something to get in a hurry that'll knock Sandy's socks off!"

Noah sighed. "Jewelry, maybe?"

"That's a good idea." Ava glanced down at the pendant. "Want my necklace?"

Noah smiled and shook his head. "That's okay, Sweetie. I'll get something just as good. You should keep it. It suits you."

Ava snorted. "Yeah, a sparkly heart really screams 'Ava Reese'!"

"It could." Noah looked at her again, his eyes sad as he started the car and drove away from the airport. "If you opened yourself up more to someone besides me, someone you could have a life with, it could suit you very well. I wish you could find that. I hope someday you do."

* * *

June 12, 2007

Sylar grabbed Ava around the waist as they walked into their room, kissing her passionately as she closed the door behind her. "I've been dying to do this all day." He whispered.

"Me too." Ava kissed him back. "Mind telling me what got you so upset last night?"

Sylar sighed. "Later. Much later." He picked her up and carried her towards the bed, her legs wrapped around his waist as he kissed her. "Have I mentioned that I'm sorry about tossing the hair color?"

"Yes, and now you're showing me how sorry you are. Hiro brought more though. It's cool." Ava kissed him back as she pulled off her shirt. "What do you think of Elle?"

"You mean 'Electro-Skipper'?" Sylar rolled his eyes. "She'd be cute if she kept her mouth shut."

"So you're not attracted to her?" Ava asked.

Sylar laughed softly. "Not in the slightest." He started laughing harder as Ava glared at him. "I'm sorry but this is very cute."

"What is?"

"You, being all jealous of the new girl." Sylar grinned at her as he unbuttoned her jeans. "It's very cute, and extremely sexy that you'd feel threatened by someone like her, and it's completely ridiculous. You're my girl and I'm you're guy and no electricity-shooting midget is going to come between us."

Ava grinned. "Midget? That's a little harsh."

"She comes up to my waist, Babe!" Sylar shrugged. "Granted, that DOES have it's advantages-" he laughed as Ava swatted at him "-but I'd rather be with someone that won't give me neck strain when I kiss her." He leaned down to kiss Ava as she tugged his shirt off before reaching for his pants. "Someone who knows exactly how to make me completely crazed in the bedroom, someone like you."

"You know just what to say, don't you?" Ava smirked.

"Oh, it's not a line, Babe. You're the only one for me." Sylar kissed her again as he joined her on the bed, wrapping her legs around his waist again as they began to make love.


	30. Chapter 30: The Needs of the Many

Chapter Thirty: The Needs of the Many

June 12, 2007

Sylar stretched out on the bed, smiling at Ava as she started to climb out. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Shower." Ava grinned as she held up a bag. "And I'm going to go and color my hair now, too."

"Go for it." Sylar snuggled under the blankets. "I'll stay here and keep the bed warm."

"Are you going to tell me why you freaked out?"

"Later." Sylar closed his eyes. "I'll tell you later."

"Okay." He felt Ava's lips as they brushed against his forehead. He listened as she walked to the bathroom, dozing off a few moments later. He smiled as he felt someone sitting on the edge of the bed later. "Done already?" He slowly began to open his eyes, sitting up quickly as he realized that the woman sitting on the bed wasn't Ava. "What in the hell are you doing in here?"

Elle shrugged as she smiled down at him. "These hallways all look the same, don't they? I thought this was my room until I saw you sleeping. Then I just decided to come in and watch you for a moment. You look so peaceful when you're asleep, anyone ever tell you that?" She glanced over her shoulder before turning back to Sylar, smiling wickedly. "Don't worry about the girlfriend. She's in the shower."

"Now that you know this isn't your room, you need to leave."

"So soon?" Elle smiled coquettishly at him as she reached out to lift up the blankets, peeking at him underneath. Her eyes widened for a moment. "Ava's a lucky girl."

Sylar slammed his hand down on the blankets, tearing them from Ava's grasp. "Get out." He snarled.

Elle stood up, giggling. "Okay, but I think you'll change your mind eventually, most men do and they don't regret it. They seem to find that a night with me is very" she held up her hand, winking as sparks danced along her fingers "electrifying."

"Thanks, but I have enough fun with the woman I'm in love with." He twitched his fingers as the door swung open behind Elle. "Goodbye."

"Bye." She wiggled her fingers at him as she walked out of the room, sparks still flashing.

The moment she left, Sylar leaped out of bed, still naked, and locked the closed door. "Lunatic!" He whispered as he turned and walked into the bathroom. He leaned against the counter as Ava finished showering and handed her a towel as she stepped out of the shower stall. "Hi."

Ava frowned as she dried off. "Okay, what's up with you?"

"I decided to come in here after being accosted by Bitch Crazy in our bed."

"WHAT?" Ava's eyes widened. "Okay, I'm missing a few steps here, tell me what's going on?"

"I dozed off and when I woke up, that crazy bitch Elle was sitting on our bed. She claimed that she got lost trying to find her room, but that was obvious bullshit."

"I see." Ava rolled her eyes. "I wondered how long it would take her to make a move on you."

"You KNEW she had the hots for me?" Sylar gasped.

"Please, the lust was coming off of her in waves. It came off around all of the men, but every time she looked over at you, her desire levels jumped tenfold." Ava sighed as she began to comb out her wet hair. "Someone's going to get some extra wind sprints tomorrow."

"So you already knew she had a thing for me." Sylar sighed. "Then I guess it won't surprise you to know that she practically pounced on my jock." As Ava turned to him, her eyes narrowing, he shook his head. "I ran her off, Ava."

"I know." Ava turned back to the mirror as she pulled out a hair dryer. "I don't think you'd be in here telling me about it if you took her up on her offer to be your crotch jockey, Honey. Besides" she smiled as she began to dry her hair "I wore your ass out in there."

"Not really." Sylar walked behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist as he pressed himself against her. "I'm very far from being worn out, trust me."

"I can tell." Ava met his eyes in the mirror as she continued to dry her hair. They stared at each other as she finished and turned in his arms. "It's red again."

Sylar nodded as he ran his fingers through her hair. "I like it."

"Good. Now tell me why you didn't want it dyed back." As Sylar looked away, Ava wrapped her arms around his waist, trying to meet his eyes. "Please. It scared the hell out of you and I know it's got something to do with me. I need to know."

"I know." Sylar frowned. He sighed. "Have you ever heard of Isaac Mendez?"

"Of course I have. I've met him too, remember me telling you about that?"

"Right." Sylar closed his eyes. "I killed him and took his power. He could paint the future."

"I know."

"I found a sketch book and some colored pencils in a drawer yesterday when we got here." Sylar opened his eyes and stared at Ava. "I drew you."

"Okay." Ava took a deep breath. "Continue."

"You were dead, Ava, dead or dying. You were lying face down in the snow with a helmet beside you and blood was pooled around you."

"The battle." Ava nodded slowly. "I'm going to be killed or seriously injured in the battle."

"It looks that way." Sylar shook his head. "But I'm not going to let that happen, you hear me?"

Ava smiled softly at him as she reached out and stroked his cheek. "Baby, you can't stop something like that. People have tried many times to stop the events in Isaac's paintings. They still come true in some way."

"Not this time." Sylar placed his hand over hers as he closed his eyes again. "You're not leaving me."

"I couldn't, even if I died." Ava leaned forward and gently kissed his lips.

Sylar kissed her back. "You're not going to die." He whispered as he tugged at her towel, letting it drop to her feet. He pressed her against the counter as she wrapped her legs around his waist. "You're not dying." He moaned as he began to make love to her.

* * *

February 12, 2005

Noah pulled up at Ava's apartment and turned to her. "You're SURE you can figure something out?"

Ava smiled and nodded. "It's Saturday. Valentine's Day is Monday. If you waited until then, you wouldn't be able to get Sandra ANYTHING, okay? I know some people who know some people. I can probably twist a few arms, call in a favor or two and have something sent to her from you by Monday." She grinned at him. "Maybe you should take the day off and you know," she wiggled her eyebrows and laughed as Noah looked away, his ears turning red "while the kids are at school?"

"I'll think about it."

"Just DO it!" Ava laughed harder as she climbed out of the car, grabbing her bag. "Stay home Monday and let me hold down the fort with the Haitian while you romance your wife and give her a Valentine's Day she'll never forget, got it?"

"Fine." Noah sighed.

"I mean it! Don't bring your ass in on Monday!" Ava closed the door and walked to her apartment building as Noah shook his head and drove away. As soon as she entered her apartment, she grabbed a phone. "Mr. Linderman please?"

In his office, Mr. Linderman answered his phone. "Agent Reese? To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I need a favor, Sir. You know I've never asked you for a thing either, so this is kind of a big deal for me."

"Of course." Linderman purred into the phone. "What can I do for you?"

"I need you to please call in a few favors to have a few things delivered Monday to 9 Juniper Lane in Odessa."

"Noah Bennet's address?" Linderman frowned. "What are you pulling, my dear?"

"Nothing, really. Monday is Valentine's Day and Noah just let it slip that he'd forgotten. I told him that I'd find a way to take care of everything for him. I'd hate for Sandra to give him hell for forgetting something like that."

"You really do care about Mr. Bennet, don't you Avery?"

Ava nodded. "He's my best friend, Sir. He's more than that, actually. He's my family. He and his wife deserve a happy Valentine's Day."

"It's very sweet of you to think of him. I'll take care of everything."

"Thank you, Sir." Ava hung up the phone and sat down on the couch, smiling to herself. "Someone deserves to be happy, at least." She shrugged and stood up, grabbing her bag as she walked to her room to unpack.

* * *

June 12, 2007

"So this is the sketch." Ava lay on the bed, wrapped in blankets as Sylar lay next to her. She studied the sketch, frowning. "It looks like Claude's reaching for me while you, Peter and Hiro are fighting Kane. Why are you guys fading out too?"

"Maybe we're turning invisible thanks to Peter? Maybe we're teleporting somewhere?" Sylar stared at the ceiling. "Who knows?"

"This doesn't mean that I'm dead, dying or going to die, it just means that I'm going to get injured in the fight. I expected as much. I knew I wouldn't escape from a battle with that freak without a single scratch."

"I don't want you getting hurt at all." Sylar rolled over and began to stroke her bare back, his fingers gliding up and down her spine. "A single scar on you would be one too many." He began to kiss her back, his lips traveling towards her shoulders as Ava shuddered.

"You know, now that you've embraced this whole 'okay, I love you dammit' thing, you've gotten rather romantic with me." Ava whispered, waves of pleasure washing over her body.

"It surprises the hell out of me too." Sylar murmured. "Let's hope I don't get to be too mushy though, that would be a little much, don't you think?"

"I agree. You should keep your hard edge." Ava nodded. "Don't get all gooey and marshmallowy on me."

"Don't worry. I'll stay hardcore in my other dealings." Sylar's lips reached her neck as he brushed her hair over her shoulder. "That picture's not going to happen. I'm going to stick beside you during the whole fight. Kane won't get near you."

"That won't work and you know it. We're all going to have to work together, each and every one of us to fight him. You have to put defeating Kane at a higher priority than protecting me, Baby. You know I can take care of myself."

"That damn sketch says otherwise." Sylar groaned as Ava's phone started ringing. "Damn it, who's going to die?"

Ava took the phone and stared at it. "It's Noah." She kissed Sylar. "Down boy." As Sylar lay back against the pillows, watching her through half-closed eyes, Ava answered her cell phone. "This had better be earth-shatteringly important."

"Did I interrupt something?" Noah's voice was dry as he spoke to Ava.

"If you'd called a minute later, I wouldn't have answered the phone, what's that tell you?"

"Well, put your libidos on ice for now. Some of us have something important to discuss with you and Sylar. There's a sound proof testing room at the end of Hallway C. It's room 17C. Meet me there in ten minutes."

"Fine." Ava closed her phone and turned to Sylar. "You hear that?"

"Yeah." Sylar groaned as he climbed out of bed, grabbing his jeans. "Tell Noah that it's not good for me to get heated up and then cooled off like this. It could damage parts of me that you really like."

Ava winked at him as he dressed before she got up and grabbed her clothes. "We'll go to their little meeting, listen to what they have to say and then come back here for the rest of the night. I'll turn off my cell phone, lock the door and we'll do things to each other that are illegal some countries without a shaman's blessing, how does that grab you?"

Sylar raised an eyebrow as he finished dressing. "That grabs me just fine, Darling." He walked over to her, pulling her close as he kissed her. "We'll talk fast."

"Very fast." Ava panted. She grabbed his hand. "Let's go. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can have this meeting-"

"-And the sooner we can come back here and violate each other until dawn." Sylar purred.

* * *

February 14, 2005 

Ava sat at her desk, playing Solitaire on her computer as she looked around, bored. "Yeah, being the defacto head for the day is boring as shit." She muttered. She snatched her phone up as soon as it rang. "Primatech Paper, this is Avery Reese, how may I help you?"

"How in the HELL did you do it?" Noah whispered into the phone.

Ava grinned. "Do what?" She asked innocently. She frowned. "Do I hear Marvin Gaye in the background?"

"No." Noah stammered as he quickly turned to the stereo in his bedroom, turning down the sound. "Two dozen long-stemmed, non-wilted red roses showed up at our house this morning along with a box of extremely expensive imported chocolate truffles AND tickets to the opera this Friday in Austin, front row." Ava's eyes widened as Noah continued to whisper. "What did you do, who did you have to do it to, and how much do I owe you?"

"None of your business, nobody, and absolutely not a single penny." Ava giggled.

"Avery, I know this had to set you back a lot of money. I need to know how much so I can pay you back for it."

"What did Sandra think of the gift from 'you'?" Ava asked.

"She's barely let me up for air. I finally pried her off of me when I reminded her that the kids were going to be home soon. She's making dinner now, my favorite. After the day I've had, I'm going to need food. I feel like a fake here."

"You're not a fake. You're a loving husband with good connections who remembered Valentine's Day in a very big way and you're my best friend. As long as Sandra's happy then you're happy and that makes me freakin' ecstatic, okay? Just enjoy everything, have a great day and night and be in a lovely mood in the morning when Sandra finally lets you leave the bedroom, let alone the house."

"You're rotten."

"You made me rotten." Ava smirked. "Have a wonderful night."

"I will. Is there anything I can do to repay you?"

"A raise would be awesome!" Ava chirped.

Noah snorted. "Kiddo, if you could afford all of this, you're not the one who needs a raise, got me? Hell, you probably make more than I do." He frowned at Ava's silence. "You don't make more than I do, do you?"

"Hell, I don't know. I go on more dangerous missions so I do get more hazard pay, so I may get a fatter paycheck than you do on occasion. Hey, at least you have a family to spend it on."

"Fine, make me feel even guiltier." Noah sighed.

"Oh stop it!" Ava groaned. "Enjoy yourself, dammit and don't call me again!"

"Fine." Noah laughed.

"By the way? Your job is fucking boring!" Ava put her feet up on the desk. "I haven't done shit all day."

"It's must be a slow day." Noah muttered. "Enjoy the vacation from my iron hand. I'll be back tomorrow."

"Yeah, if you can walk!" Ava laughed.

"Smartass!" Noah laughed as he hung up the phone.

* * *

June 12, 2007 

Noah, Hiro, Ando, Kaito, Claire, Matt, Peter, Niki, Candice, Mohinder and Claude watched as Ava and Sylar sat together with the rest of them in a circle. As Noah finished explaining Angela's plans for Sylar and Ava after the battle, Ava slumped in her chair, staring at the floor. Sylar shook his head slowly, his eyes darkening with anger. "Fucking bitch!" He turned to Peter. "I know she's your mother, but-"

"-No offense taken." Peter held up his hand. "I'm pissed too, trust me."

"So she just expects me to kill him?" Ava stared at Noah, tears brimming in her eyes.

"Kill him, or die beside him." Noah whispered as his own eyes filled with tears, his heart aching at the pain in Ava's eyes. "I'm sorry, Kiddo."

Ava closed her eyes. "And just what makes her think we'll simply lie back and let this happen?"

"We're not." Sylar growled. "We're leaving. Now."

Ava turned to him. "What?"

"We're not staying here." Sylar stood up, glaring at everyone. "I have put my bullshit aside for all of you. I haven't threatened to kill anyone except during my little slip-up with Noah yesterday in weeks. I thought I was becoming everyone's friend here and I thought all of you were starting to think of me the same way. I've trained beside each and every one of you, trusted all of you, and agreed to risk my life and my girl's to help all of you fight against Kane and for what? So Angela could force Ava to put a bullet in my brain like a mad dog when I've served my purpose? Fuck that!"

"Why do you think we're here and warning you of my mother's plans, Sylar?" Peter looked up at him. "We're doing it because we DO trust you and we ARE starting to think of you as a friend and because we think what she's planning isn't right!"

"Fuck this." Sylar turned to Ava. "Come on. We're packing up our things, strapping on snow shoes and getting the hell out of here."

"No." Ava whispered.

"WHAT?" Sylar stared at her. "Ava, please. Come with me. You've seen that sketch, you know what will happen if we stay." Noah closed his eyes and looked away as Matt and Peter both turned and stared at him. Sylar pleaded with her. "Baby please, let's just go before Angela can try to get you to kill me."

"I can't go." Ava looked up at him sadly. "I'm sorry."

Sylar knelt in front of her, taking her hands. "Ava, what do you owe these people?"

Ava looked at Noah and then at Claude as tears slipped silently down her cheeks. "Everything." At that, Noah buried his face in his hands while Claude beamed proudly at her. She smiled softly at Sylar, then looked at the rest of her friends. "I won't leave them to die, I can't."

"If we stay, if we fight, even if you don't die, Angela's going to try and get you to kill me. If you don't, she'll order us both killed."

"It's not going to happen." Peter finally stood up, looking down at Sylar. "That's WHY we're telling this, you ass! We're going to stand behind you both. Mother doesn't realize what she's bringing down on her head if she even tries to go after you two. We can help you both escape afterwards and hide. We're going to stand behind you both."

"Plus, I'm working on the other board members now, trying to convince the ones that voted for Angela's plan to change their minds." Kaito nodded. "I'm hoping that with Bob Bishop here, I can convince him to change his vote and persuade the others to change as well."

"BOB voted to kill me too?" Sylar's eyes narrowed as he stared at Kaito.

"Do not take vengeance. Be polite. Show him that you are a true team player so I can argue for your life to be spared." Kaito's voice had a warning in it. "Give me a leg to stand on, please."

Sylar turned back to Ava. "Please, leave with me." As Ava shook her head he sighed and rocked back on his heels. "Dammit, Ava."

"I'm not leaving them to die. I can't." Ava leaned forward, cupping his face in her hands. "Please understand and stay with me. Fight beside me. Help me protect my friends, your friends."

"Maybe you should both run now." Noah whispered.

Ava turned to him, confused as Noah raised his head to look at her. "What?"

Noah struggled to speak. "You've done so much for me over the years, you've stood by me, you took Thompson's abuse for years to protect me and my family, you've-" he sighed "-you're like another daughter to me, Ava. The idea of you either dying in the battle or dying by Angela's hands breaks my heart."

"You know what breaks MY heart? Having YOU, the person who has spent the last ten years teaching me to fight, teaching me everything I know about standing up for the people you care about, telling me to run and leave my family behind. I'm not going ANYWHERE, Noah. You wouldn't turn Claire in to the company when she manifested, you wouldn't abandon your daughter or destroy your family. I'm not doing that either." Ava stood up, pulling her shoulders back. "Angela's not winning this and KANE'S not winning this. We're going to fight, together. We're going to kick Kane's narrow ass into oblivion and when we're done, we're going to stand together again and tell Angela, Bob and anyone else who tries to convince me to kill Sylar or die beside him to shove it up their ass sideways, got it? END OF DISCUSSION!" With that, she turned and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Sylar stared at the closed door and then turned to the group. "If she dies because of this, if Kane or Angela ends up killing her, every last one of you will fucking pay." He quickly turned and followed Ava out of the room, the door slamming behind him with the same force that Ava had just used.

"Well, this has been a productive meeting." Matt stood and walked out of the room, with Niki, Peter, Ando, Claude, Candice, Mohinder and Claire following behind him. Matt pulled Peter aside. "You read Noah's mind, right?"

"Yeah." Peter was pale as he nodded.

"We need to find that fucking scroll." Matt muttered.

In the room, Noah leaned forward on his elbows, staring off into the distance as Hiro and Kaito watched him. "You tried to convince her to leave." Kaito whispered.

"Can you blame me?" Noah's chin quivered. "If she stays, she'll die."

"If she leaves with Sylar, we'll all die." Kaito stood and walked past Noah, his head lowered.

As he left, Hiro placed a comforting hand on Noah's shoulder. "I watch many science fiction movies. Star Trek is my favorite. There is a line from it that fits here. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Her sacrifice will allow many to live."

"I know." Noah buried his face in his hands. "But why should Ava have to be the one to sacrifice everything?" Hiro watched with a heavy heart as Noah's shoulders began to shake with silent sobs. "I meant what I said. She really is like another daughter. You have no idea how badly I want to grab Ava and Claire and just run like hell."

"I know. I'm sorry, Mr. Bennet. So very sorry." Hiro left the room, leaving Noah alone with his grief.

* * *

February 14, 2005 

Ava smiled to herself as she drove to her apartment, feeling good about coming through for the Bennets. She arrived at her apartment building and got out of her car, humming happily to herself as she entered the building. As she arrived on her floor and opened the door to her apartment, she froze upon entering her apartment, her eyes widening. "What in the hell are you doing here?"

Simon smiled at her from the couch. "I decided that I couldn't let Valentine's Day pass without being by your side, My Darling." He stood and walked over to her, kissing her passionately as he closed the door behind her.

Later that night as they lay in bed together, Ava rolled over to Simon, frowning. "I have to tell you something, and I feel like a bitch for doing it on this day."

"What is it?" Simon asked as he rubbed her shoulder.

"I'm not in love with you, Simon. You're a good friend and I have fun with you, but I don't love you. I don't think I ever will. I'm sorry."

Simon's smile faltered as he studied her. Ava frowned as she began to sense fear in him. "You're sure of this?"

"Yes." Ava stared at him, confused. "It's strange, I thought you'd be sad or unhappy but-"

"-But what?" Simon rolled over to stare at the ceiling, his heart pounding.

"I never thought you'd be scared. Why are you scared, Simon?"

"I'm not." Simon whispered.

"Okay." Ava rolled away from him. "Simon?"

"Yes?"

Ava chewed on her bottom lip. "Nothing." She whispered as she tried to sleep.

Simon sighed as he sat up. Ava rolled over to watch him as he climbed out of bed and turned on the television. She frowned as he turned it up loudly and then climbed back into the bed. He pulled her close and started whispering in her ear. "You must love me." He hissed. "You don't understand, Linderman will kill me if he doesn't think you love me."

Ava pulled away from him, her eyes narrowing. "What are you talking about?"

Simon pulled her close again, pressing his lips to her ear. "Don't trust him, don't believe him and whatever you do, don't try to do anything to put him in a position to expect a favor from you because he WILL owe you. He wants us together. He wants us to have a child together, not right now, but soon, after he's finished with some project. He likes putting special people, people like us together to breed. He likes seeing the results. He owns me. He's paid me a great deal of money to seduce you and make you fall in love with me. If he ever gets in a place to hold something over your head as he has with me, he's going to force you to do anything he wants you to. He'll pay you handsomely, but you'll pay too."

Ava stared at him. "Simon, what does he have on you?"

Simon lowered his head. Ava leaned close to him to hear him over the television. "I have a child. I got into trouble with the daughter of a prominent government official in Columbia. I got her pregnant and she was underaged. She swore that she was twenty, she LOOKED twenty, but she was only fifteen. Her father tried to have me killed and Linderman stepped in. Now, he owns me and he wants me to have a child with you."

"Oh Simon." Ava shook her head as she leaned back. "So all this time-?"

"-I DO care about you and I do have feelings for you, but I'm like you, I'm not in love with you."

"I'm sorry." Ava reached out and hugged him. "What are we going to do?" She whispered. "He has stuff on me too. I guess you could say he owns me now as well."

"Thompson?" Ava let Simon go, her eyes widening as they filled with tears. "He told me about him, what he's done. I could kill him for you, Ava. I could kill him right now. I could make it look like an accident-"

"-No, don't." Ava shook her head. "Linderman's promised me that I'll kill Thompson when he's done with him and I want that opportunity. I may end up telling Bennet everything and invite him to help me, give me some tips on how to make it as slow and painful as possible."

"You hate him, yes?" Ava nodded. Simon shook his head. "I don't blame you. What can we do but pretend to be in love for Linderman?"

"We can do that, for now." Ava smiled softly. "Actually, I have a plan. I know how to get out of this without making it look like I'm on to Linderman and his plans and without either of us getting killed."

"How?" Simon asked.

"Leave it to me. Until then, you and I are going to be the loviest, doviest couple that he's ever seen." Ava winked at him.

"Thank you." Simon hugged her tightly. "So do you want to stop, you know, SEEING each other?"

Ava laughed softly. "Hell no, you're a good lay."

Simon grinned. "Back at'cha Gorgeous!"

* * *

June 12, 2007 

Ava entered her room and turned as Sylar followed her inside. "Don't try to talk me out of this, Baby. I'm not leaving."

"I know." Sylar closed the door and slumped against it. In the hallway, Elle crept around the corner and walked over to the bedroom door, pressing her ear against it. Sylar sighed. "If you're staying, I'm staying, but I swear to God-"

"-We're going to be fine. You don't know if I really die in that sketch or if I just get banged up." She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him. "But I do know that until Kane arrives, you and I are going to spend every night together as if it's our last, okay?"

"Please don't leave me." Sylar whispered as he buried his face in her hair. "I haven't cared much about anything in this life, but I do care about you. If you died-"

"-Shhhhh!" Ava's arms tightened around him. "Don't talk about death or dying." She looked up at him. "That's not allowed in this room, got it?"

Sylar smiled softly. "Got it." He began to kiss her passionately as he pulled her clothes off of her. "No death in this room, no dying, just us together."

"Absolutely." Ava whispered as they collapsed on the bed together, their bodies moving together as one.

Elle rolled her eyes as she heard the moans coming from behind the door. "Fucking lame." She muttered as she turned and walked down the hall. "So hardcore, so fucking whipped."


	31. Chapter 31: Extended Training

Chapter Thirty-One: Extended Training

June 13, 2007

Ava frowned as she walked into the gym, noticing Claude's angry expression as Elle sat on the floor, her legs crossed Indian-style and her arms crossed over her chest as she sulked. "What's going on?" Ava asked.

"You take over training the little snot!" Claude stepped past Elle, glaring down at her. "I've had enough today. Hell, I've had enough of this one to last me a bloody lifetime!"

"WHOA!" Ava's eyes widened as she stared at Elle. "What in the HELL did you do?"

"Nothing." Elle muttered.

"That's the whole bleeding problem." Claude snarled. "She refuses to get up, she refuses to do anything. She said that the training she got this morning was enough and she's not doing anything else."

"I want my daddy, NOW!" Elle pouted.

"That's all she'll say." Claude began to pace in front of Ava. "And when I grabbed her arm to haul her up and make her start training with me, she fucking SHOCKED me!"

"It was funny." Elle giggled. "He twitched on the floor for about thirty seconds. I think he almost swallowed his tongue."

Ava's eyes narrowed at Elle before she turned to Claude. "Go, I'll handle this one." She leaned forward to him. "Get Sylar and get me a pair of rubber gloves." She whispered. Claude grinned and walked out, laughing as he passed Elle on his way out.

"What's going on?" Elle turned around, staring at them suspiciously.

"What's going on is that you're not leaving this room until I have your little ass crying uncle." Ava smiled down at her. "You fucked up, Little Girl."

"Don't call me that." Elle whispered.

Ava looked around the room, noticing the mirrored walls. She covered a grin as she stood in front of Elle. "Oh, I'll call you anything I want, Little Miss Buzzkill. Now get up. You and I are going to start learning some rudimentary defense moves. You're going to need them against Kane."

"I'm not doing shit-all until my daddy gets here. You can go fuck yourself." She smiled softly as Sylar quietly slipped into the room, staring at Ava and Elle. "Yeah, you can go do that while I do your boyfriend."

Ava laughed. "He wouldn't touch you with a borrowed dick, Honey. Now get your ass up on your own before I make you get up."

"You can't make me do anything I don't want to do." Elle smirked.

"Right." Ava turned to Sylar and nodded to him. Sylar smiled and twitched his fingers. Elle shrieked as she was forced into a standing position as Ava walked to him and took the rubber gloves he held out towards her. She put them on as she walked back to Elle. "Well, now that you're standing up, let's start with those defense moves, shall we?"

"FUCK YOU!" Elle shot a bolt of electricity at her. Ava ducked and laughed as the bolt bounced off of the mirror and hit Elle. Elle began to scream and shake as the energy coursed through her body. As she hit the floor, her muscles twitching, Ava stood over her, her arms crossed in front of her chest, laughing.

"You're really not that bright, are you?" Ava leaned down and grabbed Elle's arm, smirking as the gloves blocked the electricity that Elle tried to use against her. She hauled Elle up and shoved her away. "Now, are you ready to actually LEARN something, or are you going to continue being a fucking brat?"

Elle lowered her head, taking deep breaths. "Kiss my ass."

"Wrong answer." She glanced over at Sylar who twitched his fingers, a bored expression on his face. Elle shrieked as she was tossed like a rag doll against the wall. Ava walked over to her and grabbed her as she began to sway. "Now are you ready to behave and learn, or am I going to have to start using MY power?"

Elle looked up at Ava, her eyes filling with tears as she finally nodded. "Fine. Beat my ass in here and teach me how to beat yours one day."

"Good girl. Try to shock me again and we'll have to find yet another blond for the prophecy because I'll give you a mild stroke, got it?" Elle nodded silently as Ava turned to Sylar. "I think you're done here. Thank you, Baby."

"I owed her one for peeking at my junk yesterday." Sylar smirked as he walked out of the gym.

Ava turned to Elle. "Okay, let's begin your lesson, shall we?"

* * *

November 17, 2005

Simon and Ava strolled the streets of Bogota arm-in-arm, appearing to observers to be a couple completely and totally in love with one another. "Think if anyone's watching us they're buying the act?" Simon whispered in her ear.

Ava grinned. "Let's hope so." She leaned against him as she kissed his neck. "Has Linderman asked you any questions about us lately?"

Simon nodded. "I told him the other day that we're head over heels with one another. He's very happy, as my bank account could attest."

"Any idea when he expects you to attempt to knock me up?"

"No. I asked him about it. I told him I was getting tired of using condoms all of the time, told him it takes me out of the moment." Simon smirked. "He told me if I'd used them before, I wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place, asshole. He said that he didn't want you getting pregnant for another year. He let something slip about his plans coming to fruition next November."

"I see." Ava nodded.

"How's your plan on helping me disappear going?"

"I haven't been able to get to New York lately, so I haven't been able to look into it." Ava frowned. "And I've been watching what I say to my contact over the phone. You're sure they're bugging me?"

"Absolutely sure." Simon nodded as he planted a kiss on her cheek, making sure to let the hand that rested around her waist snake down to goose her. As she jumped and stared at him, he grinned. "What?"

"Nothing." Ava laughed softly. "I could leave tomorrow and pay my contact a surprise visit before I return to Texas. I'm not expected back there for a couple more days. It probably wouldn't be too hard to jump over to NYC for a day to visit him if you don't mind my leaving early."

"I suppose I could let you go a day early." Simon sighed. "So who is this contact?"

"You don't want to know." Ava winked at him as they walked into a café together. "Trust me on this."

* * *

June 13, 2007

Bob frowned as Elle walked into the galley, her face streaked with tears. "What's wrong?"

"Ava was mean to me, Sylar too." Elle sat down at a dinner table and buried her face in her arms.

Bob sighed as he cooked dinner. "Mean to you how?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Her voice was muffled. "I just want to go home, Daddy."

"We'll go home when this is all over with. Until then, do everything Ava and Agent Raines tell you in your extra training and stop being such a baby. They're trying to make sure you survive the battle, Elle." He turned off the stove and poured soup into a bowl. "Besides, I've already spoken to Agent Raines. He told me that you refused to do any extra training with him and you shocked him."

"He grabbed my arm and tried to make me stand up." Elle lifted her head, glaring at her father. "I think I have a bruise where he grabbed me."

"He wouldn't have had to grab you if you'd stood up and done your training like you'd been told." Bob walked over to her and placed the bowl of soup in front of her. "He told me that's when he called Agent Reese into the training room. If you have any complaints of her treatment of you after that kind of behavior, it's your own fault."

Elle stared at the bowl of soup. "That's all I get?"

"What?" Bob frowned at her.

"I'm HUNGRY, Daddy!" She turned as Ava and Sylar walked into the galley, laughing as they leaned on each other. Elle slumped in her chair as she began to half-heartedly eat her soup. "This isn't going to fill me up." She pouted.

"Then fix something yourself." Bob sighed. "I've had a long day too. I went running and trained with everyone else as well and I'm tired. I'm also tired of your behavior!" Ava and Sylar glanced over at him as he berated Elle. They looked at each other and shrugged as they began to pull ingredients out of the refrigerator and pantry. Bob ignored the couple as he stood over Elle, his hands on his hips. "You have done nothing but bitch and whine since we got here and it's going to stop now, do you understand me Young Lady?" Elle looked away as Bob shook his head. "You're going to listen to me and you're going to listen now. You have been spoiled and ungrateful after everything I've done for you. Do you know how much of an honor it is for you to even be here? One day our people are going to hear about this battle and what all of you have done for our kind. Together all of you are going to stop one of our biggest threats, a man who has spent over four hundred years killing our people and collecting their powers, not to mention murdering countless of civilians as well. I'd like for your name to live on as a hero and to have your name go down in history with Kaito's son, Maury's son and Angela's son and granddaughter. It is an EXTREME privilege for you to be here and you treat it like a chore."

"It IS a chore!" Elle burst into tears as she pushed the bowl of soup away. Sylar noticed the sad expression on Ava's face as she watched the girl. "I don't want to be here, I couldn't give two SHITS about being mentioned in the annals of freakazoid history! You're such an asshole! You don't care about me, if you did, you'd let me leave here before I end up dying! You'd let your own daughter die so you could puff your chest out and act proud to have had a daughter give her life for everyone else. If the survival of 'our' people is so damned important to you, YOU fight that lunatic Kane!" Elle stood and ran towards the door, turning back to her father with a furious look on her face. "And I fucking HATE tomato soup! You should know that since you've 'raised' me since I was nine!"

She dashed out of the room as Bob turned away from the door. Ava and Sylar quickly ducked their heads down as they cooked. Bob looked away for a moment and then shrugged. "She has issues." He told them apologetically.

"I wonder why." Ava muttered dryly.

Bob's head snapped up as he stared at her. He opened his mouth and closed it again as he noticed Sylar's warning expression. He pursed his lips together in a thin line and walked out of the room, the door swinging in his wake. Sylar glanced over at Ava as she cut vegetables, adding them to the water their shrimp was boiling in. "You shouldn't have pissed him off like that." He whispered.

Ava's jaw clenched for a moment. "The kid had a point. At least Angela, Noah and Kaito act like they're actually worried for their children's well-being in this. They couldn't care less about whether Hiro, Peter, or Claire's names go down in history. They just want to make sure their kids survive this so they can go on with their lives without the threat of Kane hanging over everyone's heads." Ava raised an eyebrow as Sylar shrugged. "After seeing the way Bob is treating the girl he was given to raise, I thank God even more that Noah got Claire and that he was in charge of training me with Claude. I don't even want to know what Claire or I would have turned into under Bob's charge. No wonder Elle's such a basket case."

"Don't tell me you're feeling sorry for that girl." Sylar leaned against the counter as he stirred the alfredo sauce he'd started cooking.

"Yes and no." Ava sighed. "She hasn't had much of a chance to be a better person than she is, given the way she was raised, but there comes a time when every person including and especially her needs to stop making excuses, stop blaming their woes on the way they were raised or treated, stop blaming everything on others and start taking a little bit of the blame on themselves. She has free will, she chooses to behave the way she does. She needs to stop constantly blaming her behavior on everyone else and grow the fuck up already." Ava glanced at another pot of boiling water. "That's ready for the pasta. Put some extra in there while I get the bread, would you?"

Sylar smirked as he placed extra fettuccine in the boiling water. "You're going to feed the little shit, aren't you?"

"There's no way she's going to be able to survive all of this training with only a few bites of canned tomato soup as sustenance. She's tiny enough as it is." Ava smiled sweetly at him.

* * *

November 18, 2005

Simon lifted his head from the pillow groggily, groaning as he watched Ava getting dressed. "You're leaving already?"

Ava turned to him and nodded. "Yep. My flight's leaving in a couple of hours for New York. I've already called cab so you don't have to worry about getting up and driving me to the airport."

"I wouldn't have minded." Simon murmured sleepily.

"I know, but you could use some sleep." She turned on the radio, turning the volume up loudly as she bent down to him. "Have you noticed that the sex has gotten better now that we're doing it with no strings attached and no lies and bullshit between us?"

Simon grinned. "Actually, I have." He stretched. "Too bad I have to disappear. I wouldn't mind sticking around and be your, what do you call it?"

"Fuck buddy?" Ava giggled.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind sticking around and being that. It's certainly fun."

"It's nice actually having an orgasm rather than faking one for fear of getting slapped if I don't." Ava frowned as Simon sat up, hugging her gently. "What was that for?"

"I just felt like doing it." Simon lay back down. "If things were different, if I were actually looking-"

"-You couldn't handle me and my baggage full-time, trust me." Ava winked at him. "I'm off to see if we can find an escape hatch for you. Wish me luck."

Simon smiled softly. "Good luck." He rolled over and closed his eyes as she left. "I'll miss you." He whispered.

* * *

June 13, 2007

Elle lay on her bed sniffling, an arm thrown over her eyes. She turned her head as she heard a knock on her door before it opened, her eyes widening as Ava walked in, carrying a covered plate and a glass of white wine. "What's this?"

"Dinner." Ava set the food and glass on the table. "You're going to need something more to eat than a few spoonfuls of soup if you're going to keep training without drying up and blowing away."

"Is this a trick?" Elle slowly sat up, staring warily at Ava. "You spit in it or put laxatives in it, right?"

"Nope." Ava shrugged as she lifted off the cover on the plate. Elle's stomach began growling at the smell of the seafood and rich cream sauce. "Sylar and I had a little leftover, if you think we actually went to the trouble of making you something just because. We didn't want it going to waste."

"I'm not hungry." Elle whispered as she stared at the plate, biting her bottom lip.

"Your rumbling gut is saying differently." Ava shrugged. "Eat it, don't eat it, I don't care. But if you don't eat this, you need to go back to the galley and eat SOMETHING. If you pass out during training tomorrow, I'll just dump ice water on you until you wake back up and make you keep going. Something tells me that you and water don't mix too well."

Elle shrugged. "I mix with water okay, as long as my tub is lined with rubber. Leave the food, I might eat something later." She lay back down and turned her back on Ava.

"Suit yourself." Ava turned and walked out of the room.

The moment the door closed behind her, Elle leaped off of the bed and began to eat, moaning with pleasure as she took her first bite. "God, this is better than sex!" She moaned as she slurped down the pasta in between gulps of wine.

Sylar smirked as Ava walked out of the room. "You're a marshmallow, you know that?"

"I just don't want to have to give her a new form of shock therapy in the gym, that's all." Ava glanced at the closed door. "She eating?"

Sylar snorted. "Eating? More like inhaling. It's a wonder she's even tasting it at all." He threw an arm around Ava's shoulder. "Marshmallow."

"Oh hush!" Ava laughed as she leaned against him. They laughed together as they walked down the hall to their room. They passed Peter and Matt, grinning at the two of them in passing. "Hey you two!"

"Hey." Matt nodded quickly at Ava as they passed. "You think Noah's alone in his room?"

Peter shrugged. "Alone or not, he's going to talk to us." He glanced at Ava and Sylar over his shoulder. "I want to know about that scroll and why it's got Noah so upset." He whispered.

"Me too." Matt frowned as they approached Noah's room. They knocked on the door and nodded to Noah as he answered it. Matt raised an eyebrow. "What's the scroll of Ivanovitch?"

Noah closed his eyes and cursed under his breath. "Dammit!" He glanced over his shoulder and stepped into the hallway. "Lower your damn voices! First of all, I don't want Sylar hearing one word about this at all, second of all Kaito, Angela and Bob are all in my room having dinner with me and I don't want Angela and Bob hearing about it."

Matt sighed. "Fine. What is it?"

Noah shook his head. "Not now. Later. Meet me in the soundproof room later." He shooed them away and walked back into his room, trying to look nonchalant as he sat back down. "Sorry about that." He muttered as he began to eat again.

* * *

November 18, 2005

Ava pulled her coat around her as she strolled through Central Park, shivering at the chill in the air. She spotted the statue of Alice in Wonderland, strolling towards it. As she studied it, she smiled as she heard a voice to her right. "Thinking of falling into the rabbit-hole, Puss?"

Ava shrugged. "I fell through the rabbit-hole eight and a half years ago." She looked in the direction of the voice, smiling. "How are you?"

"Oh bloody wonderful. Got the new phone the other day. What was the deal with that? The one you sent me last year still had minutes on it." Claude asked.

Ava sighed. "I was afraid the old ones might be tapped. Expect a new phone each month from now on."

"Tapped?" Claude's voice was cautious.

"Yeah." Ava stared at her feet. "Mr. Linderman knows you're alive."

"Oh fucking HELL!" Claude groaned. "Ava, you didn't."

"I told him everything, Claude. He knows about you and Thompson and how Thompson's setting up Bennet and-"

"-I have to run again, don't I?"

"No!" Ava turned towards him. "You don't have to run, I swear. He's promised me that he's not going to actively have you searched for and as far as he's concerned, you're still dead. He said that if Noah found out through another source that you were alive he'd have to authorize a search for you, but that for now, you're still considered dead."

"Shit!" Claude's voice was ragged. "You screwed me, Kid."

"I haven't!" Ava shook her head.

"You HAVE! You don't think Linderman will find a way to let Thompson and Noah know that I'm still alive?"

"Just listen, okay? He's too worried about some project that's coming to a head next year to worry about you. That's why Thompson's still alive, even though I told Linderman about the abuse that he's been inflicting on me. He's promised me that he'll leave you alone and that I can have Thompson to dispose of once his part in whatever he's planning has played out. He's also bugged my apartment and put cameras in to record Thompson bragging about setting up Noah and threatening to abuse Claire."

"Have you gotten that evidence yet?"

"Not yet." Ava frowned. "Since his transfer to Austin, I only see him every couple of months, and then it's a quick in and out thing, literally. I don't know whether to be relieved that he's only coming around for a quick 'wham, bam, thank-you ma'am' before he runs out the door or be pissed that he's not sticking around to gloat and threaten. The one time I need him to get too chatty, he's keeping his fucking mouth shut. Anyway, Linderman only knows that you're alive. He doesn't know you're here, I swear. I haven't told him that."

"But he knows you're in contact with me?" As Ava nodded, Claude swore under his breath. "Dammit, Ava."

"He's NOT coming after you, haven't you heard me? He's got bigger things on his plate right now."

"You'd better be right." Claude growled.

"I know I'm right." Ava sighed. "I didn't come here to tell you that, though. I came for a favor."

"OH?" Claude laughed bitterly. "First you admit you've sold me the fuck out, now you want a favor, eh? Why should I help you?"

"Because if you don't, I'll be forced to have a baby with Simon Lopez, a baby that neither of us want but that Linderman's going to force into existence." Ava glanced in the direction of Claude's voice, wishing she could see his face. "Linderman apparently is into getting people with special abilities to breed. He is interested in seeing the results. He's been blackmailing Simon into wooing me, holding an illegitimate child with a Columbian government official's underaged daughter over his head and I'm sure if I weren't pretending that I were in love with Simon, he'd start holding your fate over my head to get me to comply as well. He's expecting Simon to start sabotaging his condoms in about a year and he'll probably tamper with my birth control pills soon after as well. Simon finally told me everything when I told him that I wasn't in love with him. I've agreed to pretend to be his loving girlfriend while I help him disappear."

"I see." Claude sighed. "And you want me to help him disappear, yes?"

"If you can." Ava nodded. "CAN you?"

"Perhaps." Ava heard Claude groan. "Yes, I can help him disappear."

"Thanks." Ava took her hands out of her pockets, letting her right hand dangle. She felt it brush Claude's hand. She quickly reached out and squeezed his hand, smiling as he appeared beside her. "Did you just become visible or-"

"-You just disappeared yourself, Luv." Claude laughed. "You'd better hope Linderman's people aren't watching. They'll go nuts thinking they just lost their mark."

"Let them." Ava smiled at him. "You pissed at me?"

Claude rolled his eyes. "I'll get fucking over it, I suppose." He shook his head as he pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. "You'd better be right about all of this."

"I hope I am." Ava closed her eyes as she hugged him back fiercely. "It would kill me to know that I screwed up and got you busted."

* * *

June 13, 2007

Elle carried her empty plate into the galley and put the dirty dish in the sink. She smirked at a sign over the sink, rolling her eyes as she read it out loud. "No one here's your mama, clean your dishes yourself." She smirked. "I'm not screwing up MY manicure over a dirty dish." She turned to the refrigerator and opened it, searching around until she found what she was looking for. "Jackpot!" She squealed as she pulled out a bottle of white wine. "Good year? Any year's good as far as I'm concerned." She opened the bottle and turned to the glass she'd brought in. She stared at the glass, and then at the bottle in her hand. "Oh fuck it." She muttered, ignoring the glass as she began to drink straight from the bottle, chugging it quickly. She put the bottle down, smiling to herself. "Oh yeah! Mama's gonna get DRUUUUNK tonight!" She giggled as she picked the bottle back up and headed for the door. As she began to open it, she stepped back, hearing voices as they approached the galley. "Shit." She whispered as she stared down at the bottle in her hand. She breathed a sigh of relief as the voices continued down the hall.

Peeking out of the galley doors, she spotted Noah, Kaito, Peter and Matt walking towards a room. She frowned as she spotted a scroll in Kaito's gloved hands. As Matt stopped, she ducked back into the galley, clutching the bottle of wine to her chest before he could turn around to see her peeking out at him. Matt frowned and shook his head, turning back to the others as they entered the soundproofed room. Elle raised an eyebrow as she took another swig of wine. "Well, that was hinkey." She muttered. She stuck her head back out the door, grinning as she saw that the hallway was empty. She ran out of the galley and sprinted towards her room, the wine still clutched in her hand. She hopped onto her bed and swigged from the bottle again, frowning as she thought about the scroll in Kaito's hand. "Oh, I've GOT to find out what THAT shit's about!"

* * *

Matt gasped as he took his hands off of the unrolled scroll and backed away. "Holy shit!" He looked at Noah and Kaito as Peter stepped forward, placing his hands where Matt's had just been. After a few moments, Peter pulled his hands away, closing his eyes. He ran his fingers through his hair as he glanced over at Matt. "Yeah, tell me about it." Matt nodded.

Peter turned to Noah. "Ava's going to die?"

Noah leaned against the wall, his expression filled with pain. "I think so."

"Where are Sylar, Hiro and I taking Kane?" Peter asked.

"I have no idea." Kaito shook his head. "Somewhere else to dispose of him, perhaps?"

"No fucking wonder you wanted Ava to run off." Matt rubbed his forehead. "I can't imagine-"

"-Sylar can't know about this." Peter whispered. "If he knew that Ava's death was almost certainly going to happen-"

"-He'd kill us all." Kaito nodded.

"What about Ava?" Matt's eyes filled with tears. "Shouldn't we tell HER about this? She deserves to know-"

"-that she's going to DIE?" Peter closed his eyes. "If you had a chance to know the exact moment you were going to die and how, would YOU want to know? I wouldn't."

"She deserves to know what's going to happen." Matt slumped against a wall. "This is her life, guys. She should know-"

"-She's not going to know ANYTHING!" Noah stepped forward, his eyes narrowing. "I swear to God, if either of you tell her-"

"-You'll WHAT?" Matt glared at him. "My God, Man! She trusts you and Claude more than the rest of us put together, you're her family, she's always saying it. You're going to keep something like THIS from her?"

"I don't want this on her." Noah looked away, his eyes filling with tears. "I don't want her to walk into that fight knowing that she could die."

"You don't want her telling her little boyfriend and having him go psycho-killer on all of us to save her, that's what YOU don't want!" Matt yelled. "You don't trust her not to keep this to herself! She deserves to know, Noah! She should have a chance to put her affairs in order and to-"

"-She's been trained to do that before ANY mission." Noah shook his head. "I don't want this on her mind. I don't want her last few weeks to be filled with the knowledge that she's going to die soon, okay?"

"You don't want to admit it to yourself, much less to her." Peter whispered softly. "You've been her protector for ten years. You don't want to admit that you can't protect her from this."

"I've already failed her once, not knowing what Thompson was doing to her and not protecting her from him. I don't want her to know that I'm failing her again." Noah whispered. He turned away from the men as he braced himself against a table. "I don't want to watch her die, but I also don't want to watch her count the days to her death. I don't want to see the look on her face when she realizes she's doomed. You can't tell her what's going to happen. She's already seen Sylar's sketch and she thinks she might be able to survive it. I don't want her to know that she won't." He turned back to them, his eyes filled with anguish. "Don't tell her, any of you. Don't tell her that she doesn't have any hope. Don't tell her that she's not going to survive this. Don't tell her that she doesn't have a chance."

Matt lowered his eyes. "Okay. I won't tell her."

"Me neither." Peter whispered.

"Thanks. Let's go before someone misses us." Noah stood up straight as he pulled off his glasses. He wiped his eyes quickly before he put the glasses back on. Kaito rolled the scroll back up and followed them out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Elle heard their footsteps as they walked past her room. She drunkenly listened as Kaito and the others separated and went to their rooms. "Gonna get that scroll." She slurred to herself. "Gonna see what the hell's going on around here."


	32. Chapter 32: Two Steps Forward

Chapter Thirty-Two: Two Steps Forward

June 19, 2007

Elle yelped as she tried to block the staff in Ava's hands with the one in her own, only to end up with her legs swept out from under her. As she lay on the ground, panting, she tossed the staff to the side. "Time out!" As Ava began to take a deep breath to admonish her, Elle shook her head. "I'm not saying that I want to quit, I just asking for a quick time out to catch my breath, okay?" She lifted her head slowly and looked pleadingly up at her instructor. "Just give me a quick, teeny, tiny little break, okay? I haven't shown my ass in here in almost a week, I've been a good little girl while I've trained, and-"

"-Fine. Five minutes." Ava reached out to help Elle up, raising an eyebrow at her. "Shock me even just a little and you'll be a drooling mess in a nursing home, getting fondled in your sleep by unethical orderlies. Ever seen _Kill Bill_?"

"No, Daddy wouldn't let me, he said it would give me too many ideas." Elle stood with Ava's help. "God, I'm tired. Why couldn't I have last weekend off with everyone else?"

"Because you need to catch up with everyone else. Show me some improvement and maybe you'll get a break this weekend with everyone else." Ava frowned as Elle made a face, bending forward, bracing her hands on her knees. "Feeling dizzy?" Elle nodded silently. "Take deep, slow breaths." Ava glanced over at Claude as he sat on a bench, alternating between watching them and reading a British Football magazine. She leaned forward to whisper to Elle. "I don't think you'd feel quite so shitty if you didn't polish off a bottle of wine each night."

Elle gave her a fleetingly guilty look before her expression hardened. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"No?" Ava's eyebrows raised as she stared down at the girl in amusement.

"No." Elle shook her head.

"Remember last week on the second day of your training? You stopped while we were all running to throw up and I backed up to help you-"

"-I recall you barking at me to 'suck it up and keep running you little pansy!', if I'm recalling it correctly." Elle smirked.

Ava snorted. "Well, you needed to suck it up and keep running! Anyway, when I got to you, you smelled like a friggin' bar. I counted all of the wine when I got back and I've noticed that every night, one bottle consistently disappears, unaccounted for."

Elle glanced over at Claude as he stretched out on a bench, thumbing through the magazine. "It's probably him. He strikes me as the wino type."

"You'd think. Also, I figured you'd blame it on someone else, so last night I went to the galley and watched you take a bottle."

"Liar, I didn't see you." Elle muttered.

"I was invisible. You forget, there are two men here with that capability who would be willing to help me bust the wine thief. I've consulted Kaito, Angela and Bob about it. I haven't named names, but they've agreed that the wine is going to be locked away now."

"Great." Elle grumbled.

"And you also might want to lay off of the marathon, all-night sex with Dr. McCarthy." Elle's head snapped up as Ava shrugged. "I haven't been following you Elle. This is a pretty close-knit group and people talk. You've been seen slipping out of his room at dawn with your clothes on inside-out."

"Is there anything I CAN do since sex and booze are now off the table?" Elle pouted.

"You can concentrate on your training, you can eat a balanced diet of three squares a day to keep your energy up and you can get plenty of sleep. Sex isn't off the table Elle, just lay off the all-night freak-fests. It would be rather hypocritical of me to tell you to be celibate, no?"

"What about you and Sylar?" Elle smirked.

"First of all, I've been training longer and I have more stamina-"

"-Doesn't explain why Sylar gets to have fun, he's only been training for a month or two, tops!-"

"-And we actually get some SLEEP. We're not pawing at each other twenty-four seven, no matter what everyone believes. Hell, when we first started training, we didn't do anything for two weeks, he was too tired." Ava laughed softly. "Well, that and he was pissed off at me, but still." Ava looked down at Elle, frowning. "How old are you again?"

"Twenty-four." Elle mumbled. "I'll be twenty-five on July seventh."

"Seriously? Why do you act like such a fucking child?"

"I don't."

"No?" Ava rolled her eyes. "I'm twenty-seven-"

"-bully for you-"

"-which means that I'm only two years and three months older than you are, exactly. We have a lot in common Elle, but we have a lot of differences too. We were both taken into the company at a young age after our powers caused some seriously bad shit to go down and we were put into the care of company officers to be trained as agents, agents with a knack for killing. I think the main difference between us is that my caretakers actually gave a damn about me and treated me well, whereas your 'father' treated you like a child when he wasn't teaching you to be a killer."

"My daddy loves me." Elle glared at her.

"And yet he talks to you like a five year old, which isn't too difficult to understand, since you act like one most of the time. My caretakers made me feel like I was part of a family and they helped me to continue to care about others and to grow the hell up. You're lacking that. True, I had some pretty bad things happen in their care. Thompson abused me and threatened me and mine, but I didn't let that turn me into a complete hard case and I didn't let it infantilize me."

"EW! Thompson?" Elle stood up straight as she leaned towards Ava. "You used to let him fuck you?"

"Let? No. Close my eyes and pretend to be somewhere else while he tied me up, slapped me around and grunted and squealed like a pig on top of me? Yeah."

"Why? You could have just reported him."

Ava shrugged as she lowered her eyes. "Long story. Let's just say that if I knew then what I know now, I would have sung like a freakin' bird. Anyway-"

"-He asked me when I was seventeen if I had to wear rubber panties to keep from shocking myself when my pussy got wet. I told him that would never be a problem when he was around because his craggy ass kept me as dry as a bone. Then when he told me that I had a smart mouth, needed to be taught a lesson and reached out to grab me, so I shocked the shit out of him and ran to tell on him to Daddy. He made up some bull shit lie and got me in trouble, but he kept as far away from me as possible after that. You should have just made his head explode or something."

"I know. What I'm saying is that I didn't let it turn me into a whiny baby who blamed everything that went wrong in my life on others. I was an adult. It's time for you to do the same."

Elle rolled her eyes. "I'm an adult, thank you."

"Getting drunk and getting laid doesn't make you an adult any more than turning eighteen did. An adult takes responsibility for their actions. An adult doesn't go crying to their daddy every time someone looks at them cross-eyed and an adult knows when to be a team player and when NOT to be a screaming pain in the ass. You need to learn how to be all of those things before you can truly say that you're grown-up." Ava grabbed Elle's staff and tossed it to her. "Break's over, Kid. Ready to learn how to knock me on my ass?"

"I've been waiting for the chance to do it since day one!" Elle and Ava circled each other as Claude set down his magazine and sat up to watch them. They began to attack each other with their staffs, each of them blocking the other's thrusts and hits. "I don't understand why I have to learn this shit anyway." Elle complained. "I mean, I'll just zap the freak, end of story."

"You really have no idea who you're going up against, do you?" Ava blocked a hit by Elle with her staff and countered with a hit of her own, smacking Elle in the shoulder. "What has Bob even TOLD you about Kane?"

"He's a four-hundred year old freak who can heal, spit venom and has claws. What else is there to know?"

Ava blocked a hit from Elle and darted around her, smacking her across the back with her staff as Elle spun around. "There a LOT more for you to know about him if you even think you're going to defeat him. He's been killing people for over four-hundred years, Elle. Just giving him a little jolt from your fingers isn't going to do the trick. You're going to have to be on your toes with him and play to your strengths and his weaknesses, something you're both lacking too many of." She ducked a hit from Elle and swept her staff out, knocking Elle's feet out from under her. She advanced on Elle, pointing the end of the staff at her head. "If I were Kane, you'd be dead now."

"Great." Elle muttered. She let Ava help her up before they both backed up and began to circle one another again, holding out their staffs defensively.

"Have you even SEEN a file on him? Haven't you seen the things he's done?" Ava asked incredulously.

"Daddy said it would be too upsetting to see it." Elle shrugged before she advanced on Ava again, shrieking as Ava quickly smacked her thrusts away and knocked the staff out of her hands. "Shit! That hurt!"

"So would getting attacked by Kane." Ava waited, twirling the staff in her hands as Elle walked over to grab her staff, rubbing her hands and wincing. "You need to see what he's done to truly go up against him."

"Whatever." Elle walked back towards Ava. "Ready?"

"Ready to knock you on your ass again." Ava laughed.

"Oh, talking smack, cute." Elle smirked. "Get ready to eat those words because I? Am going to Kick. Your. Ass."

"Bring it, Little Bit." Ava giggled as Elle approached her. "Oh, someone's adorable when she's angry, isn't she?"

Elle glared at her for a moment, then attacked, screaming with rage as Ava quickly knocked the staff out of her hands and knocked her down again. "DAMMIT!"

"Get up and keep going. That's rule number three when it comes to fighting." Ava circled her as Elle struggled to get up, whimpering. "Come on!"

"What's rules one and two again?" Elle stood up, groaning as she grabbed her staff.

"Play to your strengths and play to your opponent's weaknesses." Ava shook her head. "You'd know that if you thought with the brain on your head instead of the one between your legs."

Elle glared at her. "You're trying to piss me off, aren't you?"

"Yes." Ava laughed and nodded. "Is it working?"

"Yeah." Elle held out her staff defensively. "It's working."

"Good, use it and try to knock me down." Ava circled her. Elle attacked her again and yelped as she was knocked on her back before she could barely make a move. "GET UP AND DO IT AGAIN!" Ava yelled at her.

"I can't! You're bigger than me!" Elle whined.

"So's Kane. Hell, so are the mice in the kitchen. Use your strengths." Ava prodded her with her staff. "Get your ass up and come at me again." Elle shook her head, tears springing to her eyes. "Oh, you gonna cry now? Go ahead. Do it on the battle field too. Kane likes it when someone cries and screams, he feeds on it, it gets him off. Go ahead, cry with him too and see what he does."

"Fuck you." Elle whispered.

"You're not my type, Honey. Get up and attack me again." Ava shot Claude an approving look as Elle quickly stood up and grabbed her staff, panting for breath. Claude smiled at Ava, nodding in appreciation. Ava turned to Elle. "Knock me down, Tiny Terror. DO IT!" Elle shook her head as Ava circled her, prodding her with her stick. "What? You a big baby? You scared?" Elle's eyes narrowed as she smiled at Ava. "Attack me!" Elle shook her head, her eyes glittering dangerously. Ava sighed and advanced on Elle, who faked a swing at her. As Ava tried to counter-act that swing, Elle shocked her and swatted at her, kneeling to sweep her off of her feet. Ava hit the ground, her muscles twitching for a moment as she breathed hard. Elle smiled down at her in triumph.

Claude stood and ran to Ava. He knelt beside her, checking her pulse. "You okay, Kid?" He glared at Elle. "What in the blue FUCK was that?"

Ava slowly sat up, grabbing Claude's arm. "Don't yell at her."

"What?" Claude glared at her. "She just-"

"-Played to her strengths." Ava grinned at a surprised Elle. "She barely zapped me, I've gotten worse from a taser, trust me." She slowly stood up, smiling and nodding at Elle. "Fifth rule? Don't. Fucking. Die."

"Cool." Elle beamed. "And I knocked you on your ass!"

Ava shrugged as she picked up her staff. "Sometimes you get knocked down, sometimes you DO the knocking."

Elle rolled her eyes. "What is that, fight rule number six?"

"No, it's the rule of life, the most important rule."

Elle snorted. "Whatever, Yoda." She frowned as Ava took her staff away. "What now?"

"Now?" Ava nodded. "Now, rest you should. Well today you did. Shower you must. Smell like stale wine, sweat and doctor spooge you do."

"Okay, I get it, Yoda-talk. Get it I do." Elle sighed as she headed towards the door. "Shower, rest and lay off the booze and booty."

"Exactly. Do that and you might actually knock me on my ass again tomorrow."

"Oh, that's something to aspire to!" Elle turned back to Ava and watched as she and Claude put away the staffs. "Thanks." She muttered.

"Welcome." Ava called out. "Go rest, you've earned it."

"Sure." Elle walked out of the room and headed to the galley. Climbing up onto a counter, she peeked outside, nodding to see that the others were still training together with weapons. Her eyes narrowed as she spotted Kaito. "I'll rest later." She whispered.

* * *

January 7, 2006

"OH GOD YES!" Thompson shuddered for a moment before collapsing on top of Ava. She turned her face away, grimacing as he tried to kiss her. "Oh what's the matter, you kiss Simon don't you?"

"That's none of your business." Ava muttered.

"Oh, it's my business plenty." Thompson gripped her chin as he lay prone on top of her, turning her face roughly to meet his. "I followed you in November to Bogota." As Ava's eyes widened, he smirked and nodded. "You think you two looked so adorable strolling the streets while nuzzling and holding hands, didn't you? Now are you going to say that you're not fucking him too?" He smirked. "Oh, I'll let him 'borrow' you for a while. Maybe he'll teach you a few things in the bedroom to please ME, even though he apparently hasn't taught you fuck-all yet as far as I can tell, but remember this: you belong to me. I own your pretty ass and I always will." He laughed at her and crushed his lips against hers, kissing her passionately as Ava shuddered under him. After he kissed her he grabbed the key on her nightstand, unlocking the handcuffs that bound her wrists to her metal headboard. "This was fun, I've gotta boog."

Ava sat up, grimacing as she rubbed the bruises that were slowly appearing on her wrists. "Going home to give the wife a very little pickle tickle as well?"

Thompson sneered at her as he grabbed his clothes. "Watch that smart-ass mouth."

Ava raised an eyebrow as she watched him pull on his underwear, his back to her. She looked over at a potted plant near her bed, smirking as she thought of the camera and bug hidden in the pot. "What are you going to do to me, huh? What are you going to do to my 'smart-ass mouth'?"

Thompson turned to her, his eyes glittering. "Keep it up and I'll show you."

Ava took a deep breath as she stood and walked over to him. "You think YOU own me? You might fuck me, and badly I might add, but you don't own SHIT!" She laughed softly. "I'm fucking Simon, it's true. I love him. He knows how to treat me in the bedroom."

"Don't-" Thompson's voice had a warning to it.

"-He's actually flying here now to visit me. I'm going to spend the rest of this weekend banging that man like a screen door in a hurricane. He's good. He's phenomenal, he's EVERYTHING that you're not. He makes me come like a freight train many times, every time and I love it when he fucks me hard."

"Shut up." Thompson growled.

"Or what? What would you do to me if I told Simon about you? What would you do if I picked up the phone and called Mr. Linderman right now and told him everything? He likes me, he trusts me." She laughed in Thompson's face as he turned red with fury. "He'd pop a cap in your ass before you even had time to fucking BLINK!"

As she started laughing harder, Thompson backhanded her, sending her sprawling across the bed. Thompson was on her in a flash, punching her face as she laughed hysterically at him. "You little BITCH!" He straddled her, wrapping his hands around her throat. "You don't think I own you? I own everything about you, your mind, your body and your fucking life! I could kill you right now and take what I own, end it all if I wanted to and there's nothing you or that old goat Linderman could do to stop me!" He began to tighten his grip on her throat, smirking as her laughter gave way to gurgling gasps. "You think you're going to tell Linderman about ME? Don't you remember the evidence I've got on your old pal Bennet?"

"The evidence you fabricated." Ava gasped.

"Yeah, but you can't prove it, can you?" Thompson sneered. "As far as anyone will know, Noah Bennet helped your buddy and his old partner Claude hide people like you. HE'LL be the one who dies if you open that glory hole you call a mouth and after he's dead, I'll kill Sandra and Lyle, slowly and painfully while they curse your name." He laughed slowly as he released the pressure on Ava's throat for a moment, letting her take a breath before he tightened his grip again. "And then poor little Claire will be left all alone. I'll let you live. I'll let you live to watch what I do to Claire. I'll make what I do to you in here look like a vacation compared to what I'll do to her and every time I do it, I'll remind her that it's all because you couldn't take what was coming to you and keep your fucking mouth shut!"

"You'll never touch that little girl." Ava wheezed.

"Not yet, but I will one day." Thompson let go of her throat as he pulled off his underwear and turned Ava over onto her stomach. "You're going to be taught a little lesson today about what happens to bitches who threaten me." Ava gasped as he began to thrust into her again, his hands wrapping around her throat, squeezing her tighter with each violent shove inside of her. "You're going to learn not to PISS ME OFF!"

As Ava began to slip into blissful unconsciousness, she smiled to herself. _I've got you, you fucking bastard._ She thought. _I've got y-_

* * *

June 19, 2007

Elle quickly made her way to Kaito Nakamura's room. She smiled as she tested the doorknob and felt it turn in her hands. "People are just way too trusting around her." She muttered as she slipped into his room. "Now, if I were some freaky-ass scroll, where would I be?" She began to quickly search through drawers, smiling as she finally found it. Remembering the gloves that Kaito was wearing, she grabbed a pair of socks and put them on her hands before touching the scroll. She carried it to his bed and set it down, unrolling it and frowning as she realized it was blank. "The fuck?" She sat back on her heels, shaking her head. "What now?" She stared at the socks on her hands and then looked back at the scroll thoughtfully. She quickly pulled them off and placed her bare hands on the scroll, her eyes widening with horror. A few moments later, she snatched her hands away, breathing hard. "Holy fucking SHIT!" She quickly placed the socks back on her shaking hands before rolling the scroll back up. "Ava dies?" She smiled softly. "I live?" She giggled as she carried the scroll back to the drawer, placing it inside before taking the socks off. She rolled them up and placed them back into the drawer before closing it. "Halle-freaking-lujah. I live to see another day after that." She smiled to herself as she walked out of the room, gasping as she bumped into Hiro. "Oh shit!"

Hiro frowned at her. "What were you doing in Father's room?"

Elle glanced at the closed door over her shoulder, then turned back to Hiro, giving him her flirtiest smile. "Looking for you, Cutie!"

Hiro blushed as he pushed his glasses up. "Me?"

"Yeah! I knew you were probably about to finish training for the day, so I went looking for you. I guess I went into the wrong room." Elle nodded.

"What did you want with me?"

"Well," Elle shrugged "I was going to see if you wanted to go out sometime."

"Out?"

"On a date?" As Hiro stared at her, Elle pretended to frown. "Well, if you don't want to, you don't have to, you know." Hiro continued to stare as Elle shrugged. "I guess that's my answer." She started to walk past him.

"Wait!" Elle stopped and turned to Hiro as he beamed. "Date, yes. I'd like that very much. I thought you were seeing the doctor though."

"McCarthy?" Elle shrugged. "Not really. He's okay, but you're MUCH cuter and I bet you'd be much more fun." She giggled. "Hey, YOU could take us ANYWHERE!"

Hiro thought for a moment. "I've heard of a celebration that starts this weekend in town. It's called a blanket-toss."

Elle frowned. "Blanket-toss?"

"Yes!" Hiro nodded excitedly. "The local natives in Barrow do it, to celebrate a successful spring hunt. Other cultures fascinate me. It would be fun to see, yes?"

Elle mustered up a smile and nodded. "Sounds like fun."

"Good! I'll take you Friday night. We'll borrow a snowmobile and go."

"Or you could just teleport us there." She shrugged. "Or to Las Vegas or Honolulu."

"I've been to Las Vegas, it's okay." Hiro laughed. "But the blanket-toss sounds interesting. We'll have fun."

"Sure!" Elle nodded again. "I'll see you then." She turned and walked away, her eyes widening. "Blanket-toss?" She muttered to herself. "The hell?"

* * *

January 7, 2006

"Ava? AVA!"

As she began to come around, Ava heard Simon's voice behind her, hearing the worry as he ran to her bed and gently rolled her over. She began to cough, her throat feeling as swollen as the eye that she knew was swelling shut. Simon moaned as he stared at the bruises on her face and neck. "Oh God, what happened to you?"

Ava laughed softly. "I got him, Simon."

"Thompson?" Simon's face twisted in fury. "HE did this to you?" He stood up. "I don't care what you say, I don't care! I'm killing him now!"

"Wait!" Ava grabbed his arm as she sat up, wincing as she spoke. "You're not killing him, Simon. That's going to be my privilege."

"After what he's just done? He's dead!" Simon helped Ava stand and walk to a mirror. She grimaced as she stared at the deep bruises on her face. "Look what he's done to you." Simon moaned.

"He'll never do it again." Ava turned and gave him a lopsided smile, the swollen side of her face twisting grotesquely. She leaned against Simon, her lips brushing his ear. "I got what I needed to protect Bennet and save them all."

"At what price to you?" Simon gently touched the bruises, his eyes filling with tears.

"Bruises fade. The satisfaction I'll feel when I get the order to kill him? The screams and begs and moans he'll make as he pleads with me to end his life? That I'll carry and savor forever." Ava glanced over at the bed. "Can you change the sheets for me while I take a bath? I think I'm going to scrub myself raw."

"I'll burn them." Simon marched towards the bed, snatching the sheets off and tossing them angrily to the side.

"Oh, don't do that. They're good sheets, three-hundred thread count, Egyptian cotton." Ava began to limp towards the bathroom. "I put them on for you. He surprised me today, otherwise I'd have had the cheap, skanky sheets for him."

"Very well." Simon watched her as she closed the bathroom door behind her. "Bastard." He shook his head. "He'll pay."

Ava looked up as Simon walked into the bathroom a while later, carrying two glasses of wine and an ice pack. She smiled gratefully as she took a glass and the pack, placing the ice on her face. She leaned back in the tub, sipping the wine. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Simon undressed and walked to the tub. "I don't want to-" he blushed "-after what you just dealt with-"

"-You just want to comfort me, that's fine." Ava nodded and slid forward in the tub to let Simon climb in behind her. She leaned against him, moaning as he began to gently massage her shoulders. As he snatched his hands away, she shook her head. "I wasn't moaning in pain. Please continue." Simon nodded and began to massage her again as Ava began to talk. "I was tired of waiting for him to incriminate himself, so I baited him. He already knew about us. He followed us when I went to see you in Bogota in November. He watched us together. I made fun of him, told him how pathetic he was and how loving you were and then I threatened him with Linderman. That did it. He beat me, confessed to every underhanded thing he's been doing to Noah Bennet and threatened to have him and his family killed if I blabbed, except for Claire. He threatened to rape Claire in front of me while telling her that it was my fault, then he-" Ava closed her eyes, fighting tears "-He told me that what he was doing to me would be a walk in the park compared to what he planned for Claire if I talked. He told me that he was teaching me a lesson-" Ava broke down, burying her face in her hands as she began to sob.

"Ssssh." Simon wrapped his arms around her, his lips moving in her hair. "It's over now."

"He'll be back." Ava shook her head. "But it's almost over. I just have to hold it together until Linderman no longer needs him, then I can do what I want to him. I want him to pay. I want him to pay for every humiliation, every beating, every rape he's inflicted on me. He's going to beg me to kill him before I'm done."

"Before WE'RE done." Simon sighed. "I'm going to help you do it. I'm going to kill him alongside you for ever thinking that he could brutalize you in such a way."

Ava turned quickly in Simon's arms and began to kiss him passionately. Simon stared at her in surprise as she began to straddle him in the bathtub. "You don't have to do this, Querida."

"I want to." Ava kissed him again as he entered her, moaning with pleasure as she began to move on top of him. "I want to erase what he did. Make me forget. Make me forget what I had to go through this morning."

"With pleasure." Simon kissed her as he grasped her hips, guiding her movements. She began to move faster, moaning louder as Simon panted, murmuring to her in Spanish. Finally, Ava began to cry out, moving faster and faster still until Simon's cries of pleasure joined hers. She fell against him, whimpering and shuddering as he held her tightly, caressing her back. "God, how I love you." He breathed.

Ava chuckled against his neck. "I don't think there are any bugs in here. I doubt Linderman or his people are interested in hearing me pinch one off."

"I'm not saying it for show, I'm saying it because it's true." As Ava lifted her face, staring with surprise at him, Simon stroked her bruised face and smiled. "I love you. Te adoro, te amo, I love you, Avery Justine Reese."

Ava smiled sadly at him. "I wish I could love you back, I really do. I just don't think I have the capacity for it."

Simon nodded. "I didn't say it to hear it back, I said it because I had to or I'd burst. I know you don't love me. I know you probably never will or can, but I want you to know it anyway. I want you to know that you are loved, no matter what happens to you in this world."

"Thank you." Ava rested her head on his shoulder as he stroked her hair. "Thank you for loving me."

Later that night, Ava slipped out of her bed and walked to her computer. She downloaded the footage from the cameras, wincing as she watched Thompson knock her onto the bed. As he strangled her and began to gloat, she smiled to herself. "Gotcha." She whispered. She quickly copied the footage to two disks, placing one in an envelope to mail to Linderman and placing the other for safekeeping in a file cabinet beside the computer.

* * *

June 19, 2007

Elle stared in surprise as Ava walked into her room that evening, carrying a covered dish, a file and a DVD. "What's all this?"

Ava set down the dish. "Pizza, _Kill Bill Volume 1_, and Kane's file. You deserve to know what you're going up against." She handed the file to Elle. "You'll want to read that before you eat. I don't think you want to see dinner in reverse."

Elle took the file and sat down on the couch. Her eyes widened as she first spotted the pictures of Candice, Peter and Sylar after their attacks. "He's attacked THEM?"

"Yeah." Ava nodded. "Candice was almost cut to ribbons and Peter was poisoned by the venom. He was able to survive because of Claire's healing ability. Sylar almost wasn't so lucky. A few weeks ago we were staying at a hotel in San Antonio. Claude was in a room across the hall. Kane tracked us down and attacked us. We killed him time and again, but he just kept coming. He and Sylar fought and Sylar got his arm and hand cut. When he tried to TK Kane's venom back at him, some of it splashed onto his hand and seeped into the cut. He almost died from the venom."

"Shit." Elle shook her head. "Tough man you have there."

"Yes, he is." Ava smiled. Elle turned to her, watching jealously at the way she smiled off into the distance, a million miles away at the thought of Sylar. "He's very tough indeed."

Elle continued to pore over the contents of the file, finally accepting a few slices of homemade pizza after viewing the goriest of the photos. She continued to dig through the file as the movie played, finally setting it aside to watch it.

Once the movie had ended, Ava turned to her. "Well? Any questions?"

"Yeah, in Volume 2, does Beatrix Kiddo get her daughter back, now that she's discovered that she's alive?"

"We'll find out when we watch Volume 2 tomorrow night, won't we?" Ava nodded at the file. "Any questions about that?"

Elle shook her head. "No. I know what I'm up against now. I'm ready."

"No, you're not." Ava smiled at her. "But we'll get you ready if you cooperate."

"Sure." Elle nodded as she handed the file back. "Thanks for dinner, the movie and the warning about Freak Boy."

"No problem. I figured you should bond with at least one member of your team. You should try hanging out with the others as well."

"Maybe." Elle watched as Ava took the file and movie and headed for the door. She thought about the scroll and what she'd seen in it. "Hey Ava?" Ava turned to her, her brows knitting together. Elle shook her head. _Fuck it, I wouldn't want to know if I were her. Besides, I'm surviving it, that's all I give a shit about._ "Nothing. Just get some rest and let Sylar get some as well."

"Oh, he'll get some, just like he gets every night." Ava laughed softly. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Elle shrugged as Ava left. "Better her than me."


	33. Chapter 33: The Busted Blanket Toss

Chapter Thirty-Three: The Busted Blanket-Toss

Quick note: Before I begin, I just have to warn my readers: I give away basically the entire plot to "The Lake House" in one part of this story. If you still haven't seen this movie and would like to, it would probably be a good idea to skip some of the Sylar/Ava conversation about 1/2-way through this story. I'd hate to ruin the movie for you. Thanks.

June 22, 2007

Elle rounded a corner and smiled softly as she spotted Hiro. He turned to her and nodded, dressed warmly in a parka and heavy boots. "Ready to go?" He asked her.

Elle nodded as she held out her arms, showing off the parka she was wearing. "Let's roll." She whispered. "But we have to be quiet."

"Why?" Hiro frowned.

"Well, my warden, AKA Ava, hasn't exactly given me the go-ahead to actually have the weekend off and if she knew that I was doing something besides training and trying to learn how to be boring and all zen and stuff, she'd probably wig out. You know that Sylar can totally hear anything that goes on around here, he'd definitely blab to his ball and chain if he knew I was doing something I shouldn't be doing."

Hiro nodded. "Maybe we should stay here, then."

"Are you KIDDING me?" Elle shook her head. "We're going. I'm getting a nasty case of cabin fever, stuck in this hell-hole. I've been busting my butt training and putting up with my dad constantly harping on me about doing this crap for the greater good. I need some down-time and I'm going to get it. You with me?"

Elle crossed her arms in front of her chest and tapped her foot as Hiro sighed. Finally, he nodded to her. "Let's go to Barrow."

"YAY!" Elle threw her arms around Hiro's neck, grinning at the way he blushed. "We are going to have SO much fun! First, we're going to hit a few bars, then-"

"-Barrow is a dry county." Hiro sighed at Elle's confused expression. "They do not sell liquor there, it's illegal. There are no bars."

"What?" Elle sighed. "Okay then, first we'll hit the blanket toss, whatever that is, and then we'll teleport somewhere that has bars and drink everyone there under the table." She ignored Hiro's exasperated look as she looped her arm through his. "Teleport away, my good man!"

Hiro nodded, shaking his head with resignation. "Let's go." As he closed his eyes, he sighed. _What have I gotten myself into?_ He wondered as they disappeared from the hallway.

* * *

March 31, 2006

Ava let herself into her apartment and sat down on the couch, leaning back to rest her head on the back of the couch.

"Long day?" She yelped and jumped up as the voice surprised her, then grinned as she recognized the voice.

"How did you get here?" She whispered. She noticed as a remote control on her coffee table disappeared, just as her television turned on. She winced as the sound was turned up loudly before she felt invisible lips brushing against her ears.

"Ready to play the part of the grieving girlfriend?" Claude whispered to her.

"How?" She asked.

"I'm on my way to Bogota. You'll be hearing word soon that Simon is dead. He won't be, really, but you have to act like he is. Grieve as if your life depended on it, got it?"

Ava smiled softly and nodded. "Got it. Thanks, Claude."

"Think nothing of it, Kid." She heard him sigh as the sound on the television was turned back down. "And if you don't mind, I'm going to crash here on your couch quietly for the night. I'll be gone by morning."

"And I might accidentally make too much food for me alone to eat tonight. It'll be on the stove after I go to bed." Ava winked in Claude's direction as she got up from the couch. "It's the least I can do." She whispered.

* * *

June 22, 2007

"_One man I can never meet. Him, I would like to give my whole heart to."_

Sylar groaned as he walked into the quarters he shared with Ava as he noticed the movie she was watching. "Oh for God's sake! Not THIS movie again!" He set down the dinner tray he was carrying on a table before he walked to the bed, stretching out beside Ava. "You've seen this piece of crap drivel how many times now?"

"Hush." Ava lay on her stomach, a pillow bunched under her chin as she sniffled. "This is so sweet."

"You know, you're an assassin, you're supposed to be into killing and blowing shit up, not weeping over some stupid-ass Keanu Reeves movie. It doesn't even make any sense!"

"It makes perfect sense. They're two years apart and yet they fall in love when they figure out that they can send letters through this magic mailbox." Ava murmured.

"It's stupid." Sylar rolled his eyes. "Magic mailbox."

"It's not a bit crazier than people who can blow things up with their minds or slice people's scalps off with a twitch of their fingers."

"Fine." Sylar sighed. "I'll suspend my disbelief enough to assume that there's some perfect magic mailbox that these two can correspond through, here's the part that's total bullshit. He died in her time. He died on Valentine's Day, running to her and got hit by a bus. She's the doctor that treated him and tried to save his life. His death obviously affected her. Are you telling me that she didn't remember the name of the man that she tried to save, before they started sending letters to each other? You're telling me that the minute she got a letter from Alex Wyler, she didn't immediately say 'Holy crap! You just died in my freakin' arms!'? You're telling me that in the time that those two sent letters back and forth to one another, she didn't take a moment to Google him and discover that he was the man that died in front of her, especially after he supposedly stood her up on a date that he was too dead to show up to in the first place? It took his brother telling her 'Oh by the way, my brother died two years ago today', for her to FINALLY realize that HE was the person whose death so greatly affected her that she used that death as a 'life's too short' reason to break it off with him, which prompted him to seek her out and get splattered by a bus in the first place? She found the book about his father, there wasn't something listed in there about Simon Wyler's son's tragic death? THAT part was total bullshit!"

Ava smirked. "Oh just shut up and watch the movie, you jackass. You think too much." She snuggled next to Sylar. "It's romantic. She finds a way to keep him from getting hit by that car so he can find her again two years later."

"He totally disrupts the space and time continuum, while creating paradox after paradox. It's a wonder the world didn't implode because those two dicked around with time. Show HIRO this movie and see what he has to say about it!" Sylar groaned. "Can we PLEASE watch something else?"

"It's almost over, leave me alone." Ava sighed.

"Fine. I'll just eat my dinner and leave yours out to eat when you're done drooling over this craptastic film." Sylar climbed out of bed and walked over to the table. He sat down and began to eat as Ava continued to watch the movie. "I thought I hid that movie, anyway."

"You did. I found it." Ava snorted. "Honestly Sylar, did you really think that under the mattress was a good hiding place?"

"It worked for my porn when I was a teenager." Sylar began to eat his spaghetti as Ava giggled.

"I doubt that. I'm sure your mother found it, she just didn't say anything to you about it."

"Wanna bet? Trust me, if Virginia Gray had found my copies of 'Penthouse', 'Playboy' and 'Hustler', not only would she have told me, she would have beaten me around the head with the magazines before dragging me to church to have the priest 'discuss' my sins with me and then tell everyone for weeks afterwards that she was raising a disgusting pervert. Hell, one time she found a Def Leppard CD in my room and screamed at me for weeks afterwards, telling me that I was listening to 'devil music'. God only knows what she'd have said if she'd found my Metallica CD."

Ava turned to him, making a face. "You beat off to 'Penthouse' and 'Hustler'? EW! Now, 'Playboy' I can sort of understand. The pictures in there are occasionally artsy and sort of like 'ooops! I'm riding my horse and my clothes just fell off!' but 'Penthouse' and 'Hustler's' pictures are more like 'hey, I'm naked, I'm shaved, and my ankles are behind my ears, not that you can tell since the camera is zooming in on my clitoris'."

Sylar blushed. "Hey, we all have our dirty secrets. Yours is 'The Lake House', mine was 'Penthouse' and 'Hustler'." He winked at her. "Besides, I learned quite a few things from those magazines."

Ava turned to him and propped herself up on one arm, smiling lasciviously at him. "Really? Name one thing you learned."

Sylar winked at her. "Well, after a great deal of study, I certainly know how to find a clitoris."

Ava giggled. "Yeah you do. Of course it's not that hard to find. It's sort of front and center, not like it's hiding."

"True, but tell me the last time some guy besides me found YOURS! I bet Thompson never found it!"

"Thompson never tried." Ava quickly turned away from Sylar and continued to watch the movie.

Sylar studied her for a moment and set his fork down. "Did someone ELSE find it, besides Brighton or that boyfriend of yours from high school?" His eyes narrowed as Ava's neck began to turn red. "WHO?"

"You read my file, you tell me."

Sylar frowned. "There wasn't anything in your file about any other men besides-" he gasped "-You'd better start talking, woman!"

Ava turned to him. "Oh, so you're saying that there was nobody that rang your bell before I entered the picture?"

"Not the way YOU'VE rang it!" Sylar shook his head. "Who was he, what's his address and how do I find him to kill him, if he isn't dead already?"

"He's still alive." Ava whispered.

"His name?"

"You're NOT killing him!" Ava rolled her eyes. "I haven't seen him in months."

"MONTHS?" Sylar stood and walked towards her. "Not years, months? How MANY months?"

Ava shrugged uncomfortably. "The last time I saw him was in October in Madrid."

"MADRID?"

"Yes, Madrid!" Ava turned and glared at him. "We were lovers, but I wasn't in love with him! Linderman tried to put us together to create some super-baby, but he ordered Simon to hold off on knocking me up until after some big project of his came to fruition, which turned out to be the Petrelli election and the explosion in Kirby Plaza. He had some shit on Simon to force him into seducing me. Simon finally blabbed to me what was going on and told me that if I tried to back out, Linderman would probably use information against me that I helped Claude disappear after Noah shot him. I went to Claude for help. He helped Simon fake his death and disappear last April. When I went to Spain last summer and fall to keep away from Thompson, Simon sought me out. We slept together again, but I told him that it would be for the last time. I knew he was in love with me and I didn't want to hurt him by leading him on."

"But you slept with him anyway."

"What can I say? I was lonely and Simon was there. I didn't love him, Sylar."

"But he loved you." Sylar glared at her. "And he's still out there, alive and loving you somewhere."

"SO?" Ava shrugged and turned back to the television. "It doesn't matter. I'm never going to see him again."

"Oh, you'd better NOT!"

Ava turned to him again, her eyes narrowing. "What was that?" She slowly sat up, her eyes turning emerald as she glared at him. "I know you didn't just try to order ME around!"

"I swear to God, if you EVER see this Simon-" he snapped his fingers at Ava impatiently.

"-Lopez-" Ava whispered, her voice icy.

"-Simon Lopez again, I'll-"

"-You'll what?" Ava asked.

Sylar stared at Ava, noticing the furious expression on her face. "You DID care about him, didn't you? That's why you're so pissed off at my ordering you to stay away, right? You fucked him less than a year ago, you fucked him less than three months before you climbed into bed with me-"

"-If I remember correctly, YOU climbed into MY bed, not the other way around-" Ava snarled.

"-And you DID love him and you probably still do. You've just been feeding me a line of shit this whole time, just to get me to help you and your buddies fight Kane! I bet the minute we're finished here, you're going to go running back to your Latin Lover in Spain to roll around in bed with him while you both laugh about how you used me!"

"You're so deluded." Ava got up, her eyes shooting daggers at Sylar as she approached him.

"Really? Who's better in bed, me or Simon?"

"Do I really have to stroke your fragile little ego with that answer?"

Sylar shook his head. "He was better, right?"

"I never realized before just how insecure you really are. It's really pathetic." Ava nodded slowly.

"I knew it! You think I'm pathetic!"

"YOU'RE not pathetic Sylar, but your insecurities are!" Ava glared at him. "If I loved someone else, would I have HONESTLY slept with you? Would I have cheated on some other man with you?"

"Why not?" Sylar glared at her. "Part of your job is seducing men to get what you want out of them, before you kill them, right?"

"I only did that ONE time!" Ava shook her head. "I wasn't cut out for the whole Mata Hari bit, I ended up falling in love. I never loved Simon, Sylar. He was someone I could talk to, someone I could lose myself in when I really needed a port in the storm that was Thompson's abuse. In a way he helped me lower my guard so that I COULD fall in love again, so that I could fall in love with YOU! If you even think for a moment that I would be here with you if I had ever thought of Simon as anything more than a good time and a shoulder to cry on, you really don't know shit about me at all, do you?"

"I thought I knew you very well, until you let it slip that you basically crawled out of that man's bed to come back to New York and take me home with you." Sylar sneered. "But then again, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. After all, you are basically the company's who-"

"-You finish that sentence, and it'll be the last thing you utter, ever." Ava pushed past Sylar as she headed for the door.

"Where are YOU going?"

"Anywhere away from YOU!" Ava spun around angrily at Sylar. "I don't feel much like hanging around with you right now, listening to you call me a whore and accuse me of not loving you, you pathetic, whiny, insecure little shit!" She turned and tried to open the door, glaring as the doorknob was wrenched from her hand, the door slamming. She whirled around on Sylar. "Let me go!"

"Tell me that you never loved him!"

"I already told you!" Ava rolled her eyes. "I never loved Simon, you idiot! He was a friend that I fooled around with, that's all!"

Sylar nodded. "Tell me that I'm better in bed."

"Go to hell!" Ava turned back to the door. "If my screaming and moaning doesn't prove that already, telling you point-blank when you're demanding it certainly won't do it!"

"Tell me that you'll NEVER see Simon again!"

"I already told you that earlier too! Take the wax out of your damn ears, you dick! I ended it with Simon in October, before Thompson was killed, before Linderman was killed and before Angela and Kaito took over the company and brought me back in to take care of you. I ended things with Simon before I ever knew that I was going to be assigned to keep an eye on you. I hurt him. I devastated him and I told him that I didn't love him, I would never love him and that I didn't want to see him again. Did I care about him? Yes! He was a good friend and he helped me out during a very painful time in my life, and I wouldn't have asked Claude to hide him away if I hadn't, but I never loved him and I never will and I WON'T ever see him again, not because you're demanding it, but because I don't WANT to see Simon again! I want him to find someone else that will love him back the way he should be loved. I want him to forget me and get on with his life." Ava turned to Sylar, her eyes glittering dangerously. "I want someone to feel about him the way I feel about you, because I sure as shit wasn't gonna!" She slowly walked towards him as he stared down at her. "Are you better in bed? Yes, you are. What I had with Simon was good sex, it was something I could lose myself in after Thompson would violate me and make me feel like shit. With you, it's the whole package. It's mind-blowing sex with someone I want to spend the rest of my life with, however short or long that life is. It's with someone I can laugh with and be myself around, completely and wholly, which I haven't been able to do in years." Ava nodded. "So stop with the petty, insecure, cave-man, whiny-ass, territorial bullshit already!"

"You never loved him." Sylar smiled softly. "And you do love me."

Ava rolled her eyes. "YES! For crying out loud, YES! I never lo-" She gasped as Sylar pulled her into his arms, his lips crushing hers as he lifted her up. Her legs wrapped around his waist as he fell onto the bed with her. Ava lifted her head up as Sylar rolled on top of her, his lips traveling down her throat as he twitched his fingers, sending the buttons on her sweater flying. "You know, I really shouldn't let you do this after you just accused me of being a lying whore." She moaned. "It's just rewarding you for acting like a dick."

"I know." Sylar moaned as he began to nuzzle her breasts. "Can I have a pass just this once?"

Ava bucked her hips, rolling Sylar onto his back as she straddled him. "Just this once." She grabbed his wrists and pushed them back beside his head, leaning forward on them. "Now tell me something. Am I the best YOU'VE ever had?" She lowered her head, nibbling on his earlobe as she began to grind her hips against his.

"Of course you are." Sylar moaned.

"You sure? Are you sure there's not some girl out there in Queens pining away for you?" Ava asked, sitting up and smirking down at Sylar as he whimpered, struggling to free his hands.

"I swear, you're the best." Sylar shuddered under her as she ground her hips against him harder. "Ever."

Ava nodded. "Yeah, until now." She lowered her head as she released his hands, groaning as they began to roam her body while she kissed him, her lips traveling to his chest as she began to unbutton his jeans. She gritted her teeth in frustration as someone began to knock on their door. "Oh, what in the blue fuck?" She muttered.

Sylar lifted his head. "Please don't stop. Whoever it is can come back later. Really." Ava nodded and began to kiss his chest again, smiling as she unzipped his jeans. Sylar glared at the door as the knocking continued and lifted his head. "GO THE FUCK AWAY NOW!"

"Mr. Sylar, Agent Reese, we have a situation." Bob's voice rang out from behind the door.

"CAN IT WAIT AN HOUR?" Sylar lay back, his hands clutching the sheets as Ava's mouth began to go lower. He took a deep breath, licking his lips. "JUST GIVE US FIFTEEN MINUTES, PLEASE!"

"I'm sorry Mr. Sylar, but it can't wait that long." Bob's voice had an urgency to it.

Ava lifted her head, as Sylar stared at her pleadingly, shaking his head. "We'll be in the training room in five minutes." She called out. Sitting back on her heels, she looked up at her boyfriend. "This is going to have to wait, Babe."

"No." Sylar shook his head. "No, no, no, no, nooooooo." He pulled Ava into his arms. "Bob can wait. The whole world can wait. You and I-"

"-Have a fire to put out, apparently." Ava kissed him gently.

"Yeah, a fire in my pants." Sylar nodded.

"Put it on hold for now." Ava nuzzled him. "You won't regret it." She kissed him again before she stood, laughing as she tried to pull her sweater back together. "I guess I'm going to have to hunt for the buttons on this later." She turned towards a dresser to search for another sweater as Sylar stood up, zipping up his pants with a grimace.

"Someone had better be dying." He growled. "Or they WILL be by the time I get a hold of them."

* * *

April 5, 2006

Ava arrived at work and frowned at the pitiable looks she received from her coworkers as she entered the headquarters of the OWI. Raising an eyebrow, she turned to Noah as he quickly approached her and wrapped a fatherly arm around her shoulders. "My office, now." He whispered.

"What's going on?" She asked as Noah closed the door behind them. He turned to her and gently placed a hand on each shoulder, looking down at her sadly. "Noah? What is it?"

He took a deep breath. "Something terrible has happened, Avery. I just got a report from the offices in Bogota." He shook his head. "Avery, I don't know how to tell you this, but there's been an accident with Simon. He's-" he sighed. "-Ava, I'm sorry. Simon died early yesterday morning."

"What?" Her eyes widened as she remembered Claude's words. Thinking quickly, she took a shuddering breath. "No." She shook her head. "Not Simon, no!"

"I'm sorry, Honey." Noah pulled her into his arms as she burst into tears and hugged her. "I'm so, so sorry."

"How?" She wailed.

"Apparently he was coming home from an assignment. His car ran off of the road and plunged into the Bogota River. The car was recovered, but Simon's body hasn't been found. People have been spending the last day searching for him, but they say that with the speed of the river, odds are his body will never be found." Noah closed his eyes as Ava began to cry harder. "We haven't been informed yet of funeral arrangements, but as soon as we hear something-"

"-I'll want to be there." Ava whispered, nodding.

"Of course you will." Noah hugged her again. "I'm so sorry this has happened. I remember seeing the two of you together just three weeks ago when he came to visit. He obviously loved you."

"He told me so all of the time."

"I never thought a hound like Simon could ever truly love anyone Ava, but I really do believe that he loved you very much, and it was obvious that you cared for him as well." Noah let her go and smiled sadly at her. "Do you want the day off?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "I need to make arrangements to fly to Bogota."

"Do you need me or Thompson to go with you?" He held up a hand as she blanched. "I know you think you're strong and tough Ava, but you've been dealt a serious blow. You need someone with you, I think."

"Definitely not Thompson." Ava grimaced. "I can go it alone, I promise."

"I can go." Noah nodded again.

"No, the last thing you need is to try and explain to Sandra why you're taking off to South America with some redhead in her twenties. I know she overlooks a lot, and what she can't overlook the Haitian takes care of, but I don't think even HE could erase you going off to Columbia with me."

"Oh please, Sandra knows all about you and she knows that she's still the only woman for me." Noah laughed softly. "I've told her about you before."

"You tell her what I look like or how young I am?" Ava raised her eyebrows at him. Noah shrugged as Ava smiled softly. "I didn't think so. I'll be okay alone, I swear."

"Okay. But if you need ANYTHING-"

"-You'll be the first person I call." Ava hugged Noah again as she made herself burst into tears ago. At his concerned expression she sighed. "I'm okay, really. I'll be fine." She turned and walked out of his office with him right beside her, a fatherly arm around her shoulders again. "I just need to get to Columbia and say goodbye-" her voice broke again as she leaned against him.

"-Take care of yourself." Noah whispered.

"I will." Ava nodded, wiping away at her tears as she shrugged off his arm and quickly headed for the door. She made her way to her car and sighed as she got inside, feeling guilty for the concern that Noah had shown her. "Okay, I've done some mean shit in my day," she whispered to herself "but that truly takes the cake." She sighed as she wiped away her crocodile tears and drove away.

* * *

June 22, 2007

Sylar pulled his snowmobile to a skidding stop behind a building in Barrow and pushed back the hood on his parka before removing his yellow-tinted goggles. He smiled ruefully as Ava pulled up beside him, equally dressed. They waited for Kaito, Noah, Claude, Bob, Peter and Niki to pull up beside them. "I won." Sylar winked at Ava.

"It wasn't a snowmobile race." Ava laughed at him.

"True, but I still won." Sylar sidled up to her as Ava climbed off of her snowmobile. "What's my prize?"

"More of what you were going to get before we were rudely interrupted?" Ava snuggled up to him.

"Oh, and what a reward that will be." Sylar leaned in to kiss her and glared at the others as Bob cleared his throat. "What now, Goldmember?"

"We need to find my daughter and young Mr. Nakamura before she wreaks havoc here." Bob stared at Sylar disapprovingly, his lips pursed.

"Don't look at me like that, I didn't tell Little Miss Buzz-Kill to drag Hiro off for fun and games, I just wanted to spend the evening under the covers with my lady, an evening that YOU interrupted just as things were starting to get good." Sylar snorted. "Besides, there's no alcohol here and all of the men are bundled up in seal skins. What in the hell can Elle do?"

"Besides blow our cover? We're on a secret base on a covert training mission. My daughter and mischief go hand-in-hand Sylar. You'd be surprised what trouble she could get herself into in a short amount of time, even without alcohol involved."

"Fine, let's go get Elle and Hiro, drag them back to the compound so you can waggle your finger at her and spank her. Then I can go back to my room and spank my naughty girl." He winced as Ava cuffed him on the back of the head. "Fine, she can spank ME for being a naughty boy, whatever."

"Can we just go, already?" Ava mock-glared at Sylar as they headed into town. "Where would they be, anyway?" She nodded as she began to hear music. "Oh, never mind."

In the town square, Elle tried to keep up with Hiro as he ran around, smiling and shaking hands with everyone. "It's so great to be here!" He called happily to everyone. "Lovely day, yes? Fun party?" He turned to Elle. "You're having fun too, right?"

Elle plastered a smile on her face. "Oh loads!" Her smile faded as he turned away from her. "About as much fun as I have in the shower when someone forgets to put my rubber bath mat down." She muttered. She frowned as she heard peals of laughter in the crowd and saw a person sailing through the air. "The hell?"

"See? Blanket toss!" Hiro pointed to a group of people, holding a huge square of stitched seal-skins. A person was bouncing in the air, laughing as he'd land on the blanket before being tossed into the air again. "It's to celebrate a good whale and seal hunting season! They like to offer visitors parts of the fin or guts of a whale, it's a delicacy. If we're lucky, we'll get to try some."

"Yummy." Elle grumbled. "Whale guts." She frowned as Hiro handed her a steaming cup. "What's this?"

"Caribou stew." Hiro nodded. "Eat! It's good!"

Elle tried to smile. "I had a HUGE dinner before we came out here. You can have mine." She handed the cup back to Hiro as his smile faded.

"You're not having fun."

"Sure I am." Elle nodded reassuringly as she looked around the crowd. Everyone was bundled up in furs and skins as a television film crew videotaped the people. "Tons of fun. It beats being trapped in the compound."

"Yes, it does." Hiro followed Elle's gaze as she began to stare at the man bouncing on the skins again. "You want to try?"

"THAT?" Elle shook her head as Hiro took her arm and began to pull her towards the blanket. "Oh no, no, no!" She squealed as the people began to cheer her on, pushing her quickly onto the blanket as the man previously bouncing climbed off of it. "Wait! I'm not ready!" She began to scream as they flicked the blanket, sending her flying into the air as Hiro clapped. Soon, her screams of terror changed to peals of laughter as she continued to bounce on the blanket, giggling as she was tossed into the air. After a few minutes, she climbed off of the blanket, giddily hugging Hiro. "Okay, you were right, that was fun. You should try it!"

"ME?" Hiro shook his head. "Oh-"

"-Yeah, you!" Elle cheered with the townspeople as Hiro was pulled onto the blanket and laughed as he flew through the air. She turned as she felt a hand tap her shoulder and gasped to find herself faced with a film camera. "Um, yeah?"

"I'm Susan Rainwater, reporting from WKNK in Anchorage, here for the festival. Are you a local?" The reporter asked her, thrusting a microphone in her face.

Elle beamed. "Oh, not even! I'm just here for the blanket-tossing. I'm actually visiting nearby with my dad."

"What brought you to Barrow?" The reporter asked her.

"Oh, just a training session with this group that my daddy and I work for."

"Training session?" The reporter asked, her brow furrowing.

Elle's eyes widened. "Um yeah. We work for this corporation that has a think-tank here. It's a corporate training session that allows us to, you know, just work on our corporate stuff without being distracted by night life and, you know, stuff like that." She squirmed uncomfortably as the reporter leaned in closer. "What?"

"I've never heard of a corporate think-tank around here." The reporter commented.

"That's because it's secret, you idiot!" Elle laughed. "Heck, if EVERY corporation thought of it, Barrow would be overrun with idiots in suits constantly bitching about lattes and frappuchinos when they should be concentrating on how to be better businessmen, right?"

The reporter smirked at her and nodded to Hiro as he laughed, flying through the air. "And is this man a colleague of yours as well."

"He sure is!" Elle beamed. "Isn't he great? He's one of our best executives!"

"I see." The reporter nodded. "Thanks, I think we've got it." She turned and walked away as Elle rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, Honey." She turned back to Hiro, smiling at him as he climbed off of the blanket. "What did I tell you? Fun, huh?"

"Yes, very fun!" Hiro nodded. "Thank you for insisting I do that."

"No problem." Elle kissed his cheek. "Thank YOU for insisting I come here tonight. I didn't realize I could actually have fun while being sober." She giggled as Hiro blushed. "Come on, I heard there was dancing."

She pulled Hiro through the crowd and stopped short as she spotted Ava and Sylar. "Shit." She muttered as she turned to search for another way. Her shoulders sagged as she noticed her father, Kaito and Noah heading towards them. "We're busted."

"Busted?" Hiro turned to her, frowning. "In trouble, busted?"

Elle nodded as she turned to Hiro. "I'm sorry. For what it's worth, I did have fun tonight, though. It was worth the trouble I'm about to get into, but I'll try to keep you out of it, I swear." She sighed as Bob reached her and tried to smile up at her father. "Hi Daddy!"

"Elle." Bob glared down at her as she cowered, her eyes filling with tears. "What have I told you about breaking cover?"

"I'm sorry Daddy. This was totally my fault." She stared at the ground, trying not to cry as Bob grabbed her arm roughly. She glanced up at Kaito. "Don't yell at Hiro, please. He really didn't do anything wrong. This was my fault, completely and totally."

"We'll discuss this at home." Bob growled as he began to drag her through the crowd, the others quickly following behind them.


	34. Chapter 34: Trouble with a Capital Elle

Chapter Thirty-Four: Trouble with a Capital Elle

June 22, 2007

As they quickly made their way back towards their snowmobiles, Bob continued to rant and rail at Elle for sneaking into town with Hiro. "-Of all the stupid, irresponsible things you could have done-"

"-I know, Daddy." Elle sighed as she trudged through the snow behind her father, her head down and her shoulders slumped.

"-And don't interrupt me, young lady! I have never in my life been more ashamed to call myself your father. Honestly-"

As Bob continued to yell at Elle, Ava glanced over at Noah. "Have I told you lately how glad I am that I ended up in Odessa with you?"

Noah smiled over at her. "Thanks."

Hiro turned to Kaito. "Father, I know I have shamed you and for that, I apologize."

"You have not shamed me a day in your life and you certainly haven't started this evening." Kaito smiled warmly at his son. "You are young and you wanted to spend some time out of the compound, there is no shame in that."

"Thank you, Father." Hiro nodded to Kaito as they reached their snowmobile.

"-And another thing, Young Lady-" Bob yelled.

"-BOB!" Bob's head swiveled towards Kaito, frowning as the older man glared at him. "Enough. Elle realizes that perhaps, leaving the compound was not a good idea. I think you have made your point more than clear with her. I will not stand here and continue to let you lecture that girl like a child any longer!" Kaito raised an eyebrow at him. "Perhaps if you didn't treat her as a child, she wouldn't behave in such a way."

"How dare you-" Bob began to step towards Kaito as Elle turned and looked over at the man gratefully. Bob stopped in his tracks, struggling to move forward. He finally turned and glared at Sylar as the man held out his hand, keeping Bob immobile. "Do you mind?"

"Do I mind having you go after Kaito for telling the truth? Yeah, I do. Kaito's right. The reason Elle acts like a child most of the time is because you've treated her like one for her entire life. Let her grow up and stop talking to her like a five year-old and maybe she wouldn't have these 'issues' you keep telling us that she has. Now, I'll let you go, after you calm down." Sylar smirked as Bob continued to struggle in Sylar's invisible grasp. "I can do this all night, Bob-O, only it will seriously piss me off. There's something else I'd rather be doing all night with my girl and you're keeping me from it. You've already interrupted it tonight, do you want me pissed off at you even MORE because I had to stand out here in the freezing-ass cold, holding you in place until you turn into a Bob-sicle?"

Bob struggled for a moment longer, then stopped. "Fine. Let me go."

"Promise to be a good boy, Goldfinger?" Sylar teased.

"I promise." Bob muttered.

"And you'll lay off of your Lolita wannabe daughter for now?"

"Fine. Just let me go you insolent little-" Bob began to squirm as his mouth slammed shut. He glared at Sylar.

"Yeah, I shut your mouth. Wanna see what else I can do to you?" Sylar's mouth began to twist into an evil smile as Bob's eyes widened. He nodded as Bob began to quickly shake his head. "Oh, I didn't think so. You have no idea what turning things to gold could do for me, you know? Be glad that I'm just letting you go and not taking that lovely power of yours for myself." Sylar lowered his arm as Bob slumped against his snowmobile. Turning to the rest of the group, Sylar beamed. "Shall we return to our base?"

Bob glared over at Elle as he pulled on his helmet, handing one to his charge. "Put this on." As Elle stared at the helmet, Bob sighed. "At least no one there knows where you and Hiro came from." As Elle blanched, Bob groaned. "Don't tell me that you told someone about our compound!"

"Sort of." Elle whispered. "It was a reporter-" She closed her eyes as Bob began to take a deep breath to yell. "-but I told her that we were part of a corporation that sent it's executives here for isolated training exercises. I didn't say what we REALLY did, I'm not stupid, you know."

"We'll discuss it at the compound." Bob snarled at her. "Get your ass on this snowmobile." As Elle climbed on behind Bob, he shook his head. "At least tell me that you got the woman's name."

* * *

April 20, 2006

Ava sat in the small church in Bogota, staring at the empty coffin in front of the altar. For over two weeks, the members of the OWI branch in Bogota had continued a fruitless search of the Bogota River for Simon's remains, and Ava had been apart of the search, knowing the entire time that no body would ever be found. She played the part of the grieving girlfriend in public, pretending to be frantic at the idea that Simon was almost certainly dead.

The only thing that had finally been found was Simon's waterlogged wallet, washed ashore a few miles from the crash site. It had been picked clean by vagabonds, leaving only a battered wallet that Ava identified and, a few feet away, his driver's license. Two men had been found using one of Simon's credit cards, stating that they'd caught the wallet on a line while fishing and, after taking the money and cards inside, had tossed the wallet and ID on the banks where it had been found.

Finally, the OWI had given up hope, declaring Simon dead and paying for a memorial service, placing the wallet and ID in the casket that would be buried beside Simon's parents and brother, whose bodies had been moved to a mausoleum in Bogota recently on Mr. Linderman's orders. Daniel Linderman himself had arrived for the memorial service and sat beside Ava, a fatherly, protective arm around her shoulders as the priest gave his eulogy. "I'm so sorry again for your loss." Linderman whispered to her as she sniffled and wiped her eyes with a handkerchief. "I had such great hopes for the two of you."

"He was a good man." Ava nodded.

"He was." Linderman sighed. "I really wanted the two of you together. It's a shame that he was taken at such a young age."

"It was." Ava nodded again as she glanced around the church. She frowned to see a young woman sitting in a pew situated across the aisle and behind her. The woman wailed loudly as she clutched a young girl to her bosom. The child appeared to be five years old at the most.

Linderman followed Ava's glance. "Alicia Del Toro, the daughter of one of the most powerful men in Bogota. The child is her daughter, Ana Marina." Linderman cleared his throat. "Ana Marina Lopez-Del Toro." As Ava turned to him, he shrugged. "I don't know how much Simon told you-"

"-He told me that he seduced a woman once when she was underaged and had a child with her." Ava glanced behind her again. "I take it that's the child."

"Yes." Linderman nodded. He and Ava exchanged a look as Alicia stopped crying long enough to notice Ava. Her young face hardened as she began to glare at Ava. "I believe she was expecting to be given Simon's money after his death to care for his daughter."

Ava's eyes widened. "He didn't provide for her?"

"He left a small amount of his money in trust for Ana Marina, and left his friend and lawyer, Luis Hernandez in charge of doling it out for the child, and the child only. From what I understand though, Alicia expected ALL of Simon's considerable wealth that he'd amassed in the last few years to go directly to her without a trustee."

"So what's happened to Simon's money?" Ava asked.

"No one's told you?" Ava turned to Linderman, frowning. "With the exception of the trust, Simon left everything to you, My Dear." He chuckled at Ava's shocked expression. "And now Ms. Del Toro is quite unhappy about it, from what I've heard. The head of the OWI here, Miranda Quintanilla, called to tell me that Alicia has been calling her night and day, screaming obscenities at her and threatening to beat Simon's 'puta rojo' for 'stealing' all of her money. That's the other reason I've arrived, along with others." Linderman nodded towards the pew behind them. Ava noticed four burly men sitting behind herself and Linderman. She smiled softly.

"Mr. Linderman, I think I could deal with an angry jilted woman by myself."

"I'm sure you could, but I don't want a hysterical woman making this day even worse for you." Linderman patted her hand gently. "Besides, angry women tend to do outlandish things, yes? You can survive many things, but could you survive a surprise bullet to the chest or head, or a knife to the belly?"

"I can if you're around." Ava shrugged.

"I don't want this day made any more difficult for you. These men will keep Ms. Del Toro away from you to allow you to grieve in peace." Linderman sighed. "I understand you are staying at Simon's apartment?"

"Yes. I am." Ava nodded.

"I'd like to put the bodyguards at your door until you return to the United States. She's quite upset with you."

"I don't blame her." Ava shook her head. "But I don't need protection, Mr. Linderman. It's sweet of you to want to protect me, but I'll be okay alone. I do better alone." Ava nodded.

"Very well." Linderman shook his head. "But they will surround you and protect you publicly today at the ceremony at the mausoleum."

"Fine." Ava glanced over her shoulder again at Alicia, frowning at the furious look in the younger woman's eyes.

Soon, Simon's casket was led down the aisle, with Ava and Linderman following behind it, Ava surrounded by the security guards. Simon's boss Miranda and his lawyer Luis followed behind Ava and Linderman. She heard a woman shrieking angrily as they passed. "WHY does SHE get to walk behind my beloved? Has she born Simon a child? Did SHE give him a daughter?" Ava glanced over at the angry Alicia as Miranda leaned towards her.

"Shut up, Girl! You're embarrassing yourself and your child by behaving in this way." The older woman hissed at her.

"How can I shame my daughter any more than she's already been shamed? Her father is leaving her to starve in the streets, giving all of his money to that American whore!" Alicia started out of the pews towards Ava, screaming angrily as she was blocked by the security guards. "LET ME GO!" She yelled as the child beside her started to cry. "LET ME BEAT THAT WHORE THAT TOOK MY SIMON FROM ME!" As Ava glanced over her shoulder at the woman, Alicia began to nod. "HE KEPT SEEING ME AFTER HE STARTED SEEING YOU, YOU KNOW! YOU WERE JUST ONE IN A LONG LINE OF WOMEN HE SLEPT WITH, BUT HE KEPT COMING BACK TO ME!"

"Then perhaps he should have left YOU all of his money." Ava smirked as she walked out of the church.

"I'M GOING TO DESTROY YOU FOR THIS! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU FUCKING WHORE!" Alicia screamed at Ava's back.

Linderman took Ava's hand, squeezing it softly. "Sure you don't want those bodyguards at your door tonight?"

Ava nodded. "I'm sure. If she's stupid enough to show up, I'll know it before she strikes."

* * *

June 22, 2007

The moment they arrived at the compound, Bob grabbed Elle and dragged her into the training room, the others following. "Get Matt in here!" Bob barked at all of them before turning to Noah. "And call The Haitian. We're going to need to teleport him here to work with Matt on this." He turned back to Elle. "What's the reporter's name? Tell me quickly, Girl!"

Elle shrugged. "Susan Rainwater. She's a reporter from Anchorage."

"What's going on?" Ava asked.

"My 'daughter' in her infinite wisdom, blabbed that there was a think tank here to a reporter." Bob glared at Elle as the others groaned. "Exactly." He turned as Matt entered the room. "You. We're going to need you to find a reporter in Barrow named Susan Rainwater and her cameraman. Use your powers on them after the Haitian has erased her memory of her interview with Elle, convince them to erase the video of my daughter's interview and then convince them that your visit and The Haitian's was just a dream, understood?"

Matt frowned. "Bob, I've already told you, my powers-"

"-are the same as your father's, as I've already told YOU. You don't just read minds, Matt. You can CONTROL people's minds. You can convince them of anything. Do it and do it as soon as you can. Failure is not an option here."

"I'll try-" Matt started to say.

"-No, you'll DO IT!" Bob sighed. "Take Petrelli with you. If you can't control that aspect of your power yet, maybe he can. Between the two of you and The Haitian, you should be able to get the job done." He turned to Noah. "Is the Haitian ready to come? Also, tell them to ask Molly where we can find Miss Rainwater and her cameraman." Bob glared at Matt as he left the room.

Noah held up one finger as he talked into his satellite phone. "And WHAT'S going on?" He sighed. "We'll be there in a moment." He hung up his phone and turned to Sylar. "Hiro's going to have to teleport us both to Tahiti when he arrives to pick up the Haitian."

Sylar's eyes widened. "And I'm going because-?"

"Because that little ball of fluff that Sandra and I sold to you and Ava last Christmas is apparently misbehaving to the nth degree. It seems that the Macster wants his 'daddy'."

"For the last time, I'm NOT that idiot dog's 'daddy'!" Sylar groaned.

"Nevertheless, he's crazy about you and he's biting and attacking anyone that comes near him. It's time for you to take him back." Noah turned to Hiro. "Ready to go?"

"Of course." Hiro placed a hand on each of their shoulders as they all disappeared.

As soon as they disappeared, Ava turned to Bob. "Leave Elle alone with me, we need to talk."

Bob glared at Elle. "I'm not finished with her yet."

Ava rolled her eyes. "You are for now, Bob. Yell at her like a naughty child later if you want, I'm going to try and speak to her like an adult, something that apparently you don't know how to do."

Bob's face began to turn red, then purple as he sputtered. "Excuse me? Where do you get off-"

"-In my bedroom with my boyfriend, but that's beside the point." Ava glared at him then turned to Kaito. "Get him out of here. All he's done is talk to her like a child and treat her like one. It's time for someone around here to treat her like an adult."

"With pleasure." Kaito clapped a hand on Bob's shoulder and quickly ushered him out of the room.

Elle turned to Ava, grinning. "God, if I'd had a camera to take a picture of his face, I'd-"

"-I didn't do that for your enjoyment!" Ava snapped at Elle. "Sit down and shut up! It's time for a little come to Jesus talk with you, Kid!" Ava shoved a chair at Elle while grabbing one for herself. As Elle sat down, Ava sat across from her, shaking her head. "What did you think you were doing, running off to Barrow with Hiro like that, Elle? We're here on a covert mission. This whole compound is guarded and protected for a reason, for crying out loud! The townspeople are NOT supposed to know that we're here or why we're here. NO ONE outside of this organization is supposed to know that this building even exists. Why did you take off like that?"

Elle pouted and slumped in her seat. "I wanted to have some fun, something that I've been sorely lacking since I got here."

"And what did you do for fun in New York?" Ava asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Very little." Elle nodded. "With Daddy breathing down my throat and-"

"-and you thought things would be different here? Hell Elle, if anything, things are going to be STRICTER here than in New York!" Ava sighed. "You snuck out with Hiro, went to Barrow, and blabbed about our facility to a reporter. If Matt, Peter and the Haitian can't keep the information about us from getting out, do you have ANY idea how much you will have compromised us all? I'm not just talking about the people here, Elle. I'm talking about all of us, every person out there with an ability. It is this organization's job to find and protect people like us not only from our own kind but also from normal civilians. It's our JOB to keep the general public in the dark about our abilities. What do you honestly think will happen if that reporter starts investigating this compound? It'll lead her to discover that people with special powers exist and THEN what do you think will happen to us?" She nodded as Elle blanched and looked away. "We'd be hunted, targeted, tested by the government, prejudiced against, just to name a few things. People fear what they don't understand, Elle. They fear people who are different. They'd fear US. You could have very well jeopardized everyone in the world who is just like us. You could have compromised our entire mission here."

"I just wanted to get out of here for a while. I had a serious case of cabin fever."

"You'll have time for fun and games after we fight Kane. Until then, we have to get ready to fight him and defeat him. You can't do that bouncing all over Barrow and if our position here were compromised, it would hinder us even MORE with our training."

"Doesn't matter anyway, I'm not the one who's going to die." Elle muttered.

Ava frowned. "What was that?"

Elle turned to Ava, smirking. "I said that it doesn't matter what I do around here. I could fuck every guy here while in a drunken stupor every night until Kane shows up, because I'M not the one who's going to die in the end, YOU ARE!"

Ava's eyes narrowed. "What in the hell are you talking about?"

Elle nodded, her eyes glittering maliciously as she studied Ava. "You poor thing, you don't even know, do you?" She giggled. "All of your friends know and I know, hell everyone around here probably knows by now but you and that killer boyfriend of yours. Kaito's got a scroll and when you touch it, you see the big battle. Sure, I end up with a few scrapes and bruises, but I'm not the one who buys the proverbial farm in the end. You die, Ava. You go running towards Kane without your little helmet on to protect you and he spits venom in your face before he slashes your throat. He's going to kill you."

Ava looked away, tears springing to her eyes. "You're lying."

"Like hell I am!" Elle smirked. "And everyone knows it. Kaito's got it in his sock drawer, of all places. Peter's seen it and so has Matt. I bet your little buddies Noah and Claude have seen it to, not to mention Hiro. Hell, even the janitor's probably seen that little scroll by now. Everyone knows that you're gonna die and they haven't had the balls to tell you. They're all just going to let you offer yourself up and get your throat torn ou-" She shrieked as Ava reached back and slapped her hard across the face. "BITCH! What was that for?"

"You lying little-" Ava jumped up and started pacing the floor. "-You're making it up, that's all there is to it. You're just saying that to-" She turned and grabbed Elle by the front of her parka, hauling her out of her chair as Kaito walked into the room. "-TELL ME YOU'RE LYING!"

"What on earth-?" Kaito ran to Ava and pulled her away from Elle as Peter and Matt ran in behind him. Ava screamed and struggled against him. "What is going on here?"

"TELL THEM WHAT YOU JUST TOLD ME, YOU LYING LITTLE BITCH! TELL THEM!" Ava shrieked.

Elle turned to Peter. "I saw you and Matt going into a room with Kaito and a scroll. Tell her what it shows, since she thinks I'm a big, fat liar! Grow some balls and tell her what's REALLY going to happen to her during that battle!"

As Peter and Matt stared in shock at Elle before looking at Ava guiltily, she stopped fighting and slumped in Kaito's arms. "It's true?" She whispered, her face falling.

Peter leaned against a wall and closed his eyes as Kaito nodded, his arms around Ava. "It's true, child. Noah, Peter, Matt and I are trying to find a way to circumvent it, but there is a scroll and it does show your probable death." He glared at Elle. "How SHE found out is beyond me."

"I saw you guys walking into the soundproof room with it and wanted to see what was on it." Elle sighed. "Your sock drawer is a sucky place to hide shit, Dude."

Ava glared at Elle. "Get the fuck out of here, NOW!" She hissed at her.

Elle gasped. "What did I do now?"

"GET OUT!" Ava yelled at her. "NEVER SPEAK TO ME AGAIN AND GO TO CLAUDE FOR YOUR TRAINING FROM NOW ON, YOU LITTLE BITCH!" She took a deep breath as Elle scampered from the room and turned to Kaito. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

Kaito stared at the floor. "We didn't want you to leave or tell Sylar. We were afraid that-"

"-We'd kill you all or leave you to Kane?" Ava asked. Kaito nodded.

"I am filled with shame at this moment." He whispered. "That you had to hear the truth from Elle-"

"-and she really enjoyed telling me, too." Ava sighed. "I want to see the scroll, Kaito."

His head snapped up as Matt and Peter shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. "Noah will return at any moment with Sylar and the Haitian."

"I know." Ava closed her eyes. "Tell Noah to meet me in the soundproof room. You meet me there too and bring that scroll." She turned and walked out of the room. As Peter reached for her, she glared at him. "Don't fucking touch me right now." She hissed as she slammed the door behind her.

Peter sank to the floor as Hiro appeared in the room, accompanied by the Haitian, Noah and a Mac-toting Sylar. "We're screwed." He whispered.

* * *

April 20, 2006

After the interment, Ava made her way to Simon's apartment and looked around. "Any more bugs turn up?" She whispered.

Claude appeared on the couch with Simon beside him. "Nope, we've taken them all out."

"Good." Ava sat in a chair across from them. She looked over at Simon. "You're officially buried. It's time for you two to go now."

Simon smiled as he stood and walked over to her. His eyes widened as she slapped him across the face. "And what was that for, Querida?"

"You left me all of your money?" She hissed. "The fuck?"

Simon rubbed his reddening cheek and smiled ruefully. "I was going to go over that with you."

"Really? When?" Ava glared at him. "You know, you were SUPPOSED to already be out of Bogota and beginning your new life elsewhere before I got here, Mister!"

"I know." Simon sighed as Claude rolled his eyes. "And I've already explained-"

"-You wanted to see me again one last time, I get it." Ava shook her head. "You realize that if anyone finds out that you're not only dead, but that you're still here and that I helped arrange all of this, we're ALL going to find ourselves in a shallow grave somewhere."

"I know." Simon knelt in front of her, taking her hands in his. "I had to see my beloved, my savior, one last time." He kissed her hands and smiled up at her.

"So anyway, the money? Why didn't you leave it to Ana Marina?" Ava shook her head. "She's beautiful, by the way. Her mother's bugfuck nuts, but she's a beautiful child."

"That's exactly the reason I only left her a small trust." Simon nodded. "If Alicia had gotten her hands on all of my money freely and clearly, she would have spent it all right away and Ana would have been left with nothing. Her father disowned her after Ana was born. I've sent her money each month for child support, but she pisses it away, leaving nothing for Ana. I made arrangements with Luis to have him set up the trust for Ana only and made Luis the executor because I KNOW he'll make the right decisions for Ana. Also now, Alicia will have no choice but to actually work for a living. That or try to get back into her father's graces now that I'm dead."

"So why didn't you just put ALL of it into a trust? Why leave me even a penny of it?"

Simon winked. "Because I'm going to need something to live on once Claude is paid. There is a charity that has been set up in Madrid for a non-existent children's hospital and orphanage. If you don't mind, could you donate all of the money there?"

Ava smirked. "You're the charity, aren't you?"

"Don't I look like a sick orphan child in need of medical attention?" Simon smiled at her.

Ava laughed softly. "You got the child part right." She sighed. "And what's to stop me from telling you to piss up a rope and keeping all of this money for myself?"

"Your kindness and decency." Simon nodded. "You're many things Avery, but you're not a thief."

"True." Ava shrugged. "Consider it done." She shook her head as Simon hugged her. "Well, you've seen me one last time, now you need to go."

"There's one thing that we haven't done for the last time." Simon took her hand and glanced over at Claude.

Claude groaned. "Oh bloody fucking hell! You can't be serious, you horny bastard!"

"I'd like one last night with the woman I love, even if she doesn't love me back." Simon pleaded with Claude. "If you loved a woman and knew that you'd probably never see her again, what would you do with her the last time YOU saw her?"

"Fine. I'll be back at three a.m." Claude stood up, turning invisible. "Be prepared to go, you little sex-monkey." He patted Ava on the arm as he walked out of the apartment.

Simon kissed Ava passionately. "One last night with you. I'll make you love me if it's the last thing I do." He whispered as he lifted her up and carried her to his bedroom.

Late that night, Ava stirred as she felt Simon climb out of bed. "It's three already?"

"Go back to sleep. You're beautiful when you're sleeping." Simon whispered. Ava nodded and closed her eyes. "Wait." Ava opened them again and noticed Simon's sad expression. "Please say it once, even if you don't mean it."

Ava sighed. "I love you." She smiled softly as Simon kissed her gently on the forehead.

"I love you too." He whispered as he walked out of the room. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Ava rolled over and heard the door gently close. "I only wish I had been telling you the truth."

* * *

June 22, 2007

Ava paced the floor of the soundproof room, tears streaming down her face. She looked up as Noah entered the room with Kaito. "Sylar doesn't know anything, right?" She asked.

Noah nodded. "I told him that you were suiting up to go off on the mission with Matt, Peter and the Haitian to provide wetworks if the reporter couldn't be convinced to destroy Elle's interview."

"Yeah, because that's all I'm good for apparently, babysitting killers and murder." Ava glared at him. "I'm not good enough to be told when I'm going to fucking die, right?"

Noah stared at the floor. "I wanted to try and fix this. I didn't want you to ever know." He looked up at her, his eyes filling with tears. "I wanted to save your life without you ever knowing that it NEEDED saving, Ava."

"I had a right to know." Ava choked back a sob. "And I certainly didn't need to hear it from Elle of all people. I had a right to find out from people that cared about me, not some spoiled little bitch who told me so she could gloat, for God's sakes!"

"I know, and I'm sorry." Noah glanced over at Kaito who unrolled the scroll with gloved hands. "If you want to know what's going to happen, touch the scroll Ava, but be warned, it's not pretty."

"Death never is." Ava whispered as she placed her hands on the scroll.

* * *

Matt, Peter and the Haitian appeared outside of a small motel on the outskirts of Barrow. "You sure this is where she is?" Peter asked.

Matt shrugged. "Apparently this is where Molly said she was." Matt shrugged and knocked on the door. They smiled as a woman answered. "Susan Rainwater?"

"Yes?" She frowned.

Matt concentrated on his powers. "May we come in and talk to you?" He felt something in his mind start to give as he began to think. _You want us to come in. You want to let us into your room._

The woman's eyes glazed over for a moment as she nodded and opened her door further. "Come on in." She whispered.

"Good one." Peter chuckled as they entered the room.

* * *

Ava snatched her hands away from the scroll and stepped away from it, her face pale. "I offered myself up as bait, didn't I?" She whispered.

"Yeah." Noah nodded, his voice raspy.

"I did it to distract him so Peter and Sylar and Hiro could-" she shook her head "-where are they taking Kane, anyway?"

"I don't know." Noah sighed. "I'm sorry you had to see that. I wanted to keep it from you."

"You should have trusted me enough to tell me about this." Ava's chin trembled as she struggled to keep her composure. "You guys were afraid I'd run. You were afraid I'd run away with Sylar to avoid this, or that I'd sic him on all of you first, right?"

"We thought about that too." Noah shook his head. "But I mainly just didn't want you to know because I didn't want this hanging over your head."

Ava smiled sadly at Noah. "Most people don't want to know when they're going to die, but for me it's a relief. Really it is." She took a deep breath. "Now I can get my affairs in order. I can live every day like it's my last because it very may well be." She started to cry again. "I'm not going to run and I'm not going to tell Sylar about this. He WILL freak out and try to make me run with him." As Noah reached out for her, she shook her head. "I'm okay, really. So I don't get to grow old with the man I love. So I don't get a happily ever after or any of that other shit. I only recently started believing in it anyway. I knew it wasn't for me. I knew I'd end up dying on the job. Deep down, I've always known that I'd meet a sticky end with this company and I'm okay with it. I owe this company my life." She looked at Noah with tears streaming down her cheeks. "And I owe you my life as well. You saved my life, you saved my sanity, I'd die protecting all of you and now I'll get the chance to prove that." She broke down, sagging against the table as Noah pulled her into his arms.

"We're going to find a way around this." He whispered into her hair. "I'm not going to let you die out there, Kid. We'll find a way around it."

"You can't change destiny." Ava shook her head. "You can't change a prophecy like this."

They waited in the room together until Peter, Matt and the Haitian returned. After Hiro left with the Haitian, Peter and Matt turned to Ava. "Is it okay to speak to you now?" Matt asked.

"Yeah." Ava sighed. "I'm okay. I'm okay with it. I'm not leaving and I'm not telling Sylar. It's going to be up to all of you to save him now though. It's going to be up to all of you to protect him from Angela's plans. That's all I ask in return for staying and living up to my end of this-" she waved her hand at the rolled-up scroll. "Just find a way to save him from Angela and save him from himself."

"We will." Peter nodded. He hugged Ava. "I don't want you to die."

"I'd like to find a way to live too, but I don't see a way around this." Ava shrugged and backed away from Peter after hugging him for a moment. "When does this happen?" She asked Kaito.

"July seventh." He nodded. "If our theories are correct, Kane arrives here on the seventh."

"We don't have a lot of time left." Ava frowned. "I don't have a lot of time left." She smiled softly. "And I'm not going to spend it with you weeping willows, either. I'm going to spend it with my guy, starting tonight." She started for the door and stopped, turning to Matt and Peter. "Before I go, how did things go with the reporter."

Matt grinned. "Between me and the Haitian, she was compelled to erase Elle's interview before she and her cameraman forgot that Elle even existed, much less us."

"Good." Ava smiled. "Maybe things are finally looking up."

"Maybe." Peter sighed. "She did say though that she had already sent a general story about the festival to the Anchorage station and that it'll be posted online soon. Hopefully no one from our group was caught on camera."

"Let's hope not." Ava turned and walked out of the room, making her way quickly to her quarters with Sylar. She beamed as she opened the door and was greeted by a hyper Mac. "Hey little man! How was paradise?"

"He apparently hated it." Sylar shook his head. "Sandra was all in a lather because he attacked Mr. Muggles and bit his ear. She's freaking out because if it leaves a scar it could mean points reduction in dog shows, or something like that. He then freaked out and bit her and Lyle before running around the house barking and yelping until Noah called. She was actually getting ready to call him when he called first." Sylar shrugged. "I guess he missed us."

"I guess so." Ava smiled softly at Sylar. "I missed you."

"How did things go in town?"

Ava shrugged. "I wasn't needed. They took care of everything. I could have just stayed here." Ava slowly walked to the bed as Sylar looked up at her. "But I'm here now, and I'm not going anywhere for the rest of the night."

"So we're going to finish what we started earlier?" Sylar smiled as he began to kiss her.

"And then some." Ava kissed him passionately as she fell onto the bed with him, her legs wrapping around his waist as she tugged his shirt off over his head.

* * *

June 23, 2007

Kane cursed to himself in the library outside of Dallas as he searched the internet. He was looking for a needle in a haystack and he knew it. After watching the Primatech branch in Odessa for a few days after his encounter with Sylar, Ava and Claude in San Antonio, he realized that the building was completely emptied out. No one was coming or going and a search inside revealed that the OWI part of the building was completely sealed off. He remembered the thick heavy parkas and snow boots he'd seen at the farmhouse and had started searching the internet for information about covert organizations in the polar regions of the world and was furious to realize that he was coming up empty-handed. Running his fingers through his short blond hair, he ran a search again for news stories in the colder regions, frowning as he came across stories about global warming time and again. Finally he saw a report from Barrow, Alaska and sighing, clicked on the video. He rolled his eyes as the reporter talked about the blanket toss celebration and started to turn off the screen. His hand froze as he spotted a blond bouncing on the blanket, being cheered on by a familiar face in the crowd. "And hello, Hiro." Kane chuckled. He glanced at the town's name again and nodded. "And soon I'll be saying 'Hello' to you in person, in Barrow, Alaska." He purred as he turned off the computer and strolled out of the library.


	35. Chapter 35: The Power of Persuasion

Chapter Thirty-Five: The Power of Persuasion

June 23, 2007

Sylar groaned as he ran through the snow. He glanced over at Ava as she ran beside him, barely breaking a sweat. "How in the hell can you keep this up?" He gasped.

"Simple, I just remember what Kane did to you and I remember why I'm fighting." Ava smiled softly at him. "I imagine that he's running from me and that I'm chasing him to the ends of the earth to kill him for laying a hand on my man, that's what keeps me running like this."

"Good motivation, I guess." Sylar panted. "So here's another question for you. Why are we running and training on a fucking Saturday when we were supposed to start having weekends off and WHY aren't YOU training Elle this morning?"

"That's two questions." Ava muttered, her eyes growing cold at the mention of Elle's name.

"Yeah, and?" Sylar looked pointedly at her.

Ava sighed. "After Elle's little stunt last night, there's a possibility that Adam could end up finding us sooner rather than later."

"I thought Matt and the Haitian took care of the reporter from last night."

"They did." Ava nodded. "But not before she sent a report and a video to Anchorage about the blanket-toss. Noah told me this morning that the footage from the report shows Hiro and Elle in the background and that the footage is online. If Adam sees it-"

"-He'll come to Barrow and from there, find the compound." Sylar muttered.

"Exactly." Ava breathed.

"Lovely." Sylar gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the burning pain in his legs as he continued to run. "Remind me to thank Hiro and Elle for their stupidity with that shit."

"Hiro's already beating himself up over it enough, don't add to it."

"And Elle?" Sylar asked her.

Ava's eyes narrowed. "Just stay the fuck away from her too, that's what I'm doing."

Sylar stopped and grabbed Ava's arm, staring at her as the others ran past them. "What the HELL happened while I was gone getting Mac?" As Ava started to speak, Sylar shook his head. "And don't tell me that nothing happened. When I got back you were acting strange and pissed off and Elle was freaking out. In fact, everyone was angry as hell with her about something and now you're out here running and refusing to speak to her while Claude is stuck training her crazy ass. What happened?"

Ava shrugged and started running again. "I simply realized that I don't want to have to deal with her immature ass anymore, that's all."

"Fine, don't tell me then." Sylar pursed his lips together for a moment before shrugging. He took off running to catch up with Ava, watching her out of the corner of his eye.

* * *

April 29, 2006

Ava strolled into the Burnt Toast Diner and waved to Noah as she approached him. He smiled softly at her as she slid into the booth across from him. "Welcome back. How was Bogota?"

"Okay." Ava stared unflinchingly at Noah as he fiddled with the silverware in front of him, noticing the way his hands shook slightly. She could sense the fear and nervousness coming off of him in waves.

"You got all of Simon's affairs in order?" He said softly.

"Yes." Ava leaned forward, her eyes boring into Noah's. "So what's going on? You called me three times while I was in Bogota in the last week to make sure that I would be home by today and you kept insisting on meeting me here. You're freaking out over something, what's up?"

"I'm okay." Noah swallowed hard.

"No, you're not." Ava shook her head. "I can sense the fear coming from you, Noah." She frowned, her brow furrowing. "It has something to do with Claire." Her eyes widened. "Has she manifested?" She whispered.

Noah closed his eyes and leaned back against his seat. "I think so." He opened his eyes and looked around the diner before leaning forward. "Last week, I got a call from a man in New York, a geneticist. His name is Chandra Suresh. He's identified genetic markers that indicate when people are-" His voice faltered as he fiddled with a napkin nervously.

"-Special like me?" Ava asked. Noah nodded. "And he got a sample of Claire's blood and found that marker, correct?"

"Apparently when she had some blood tests done as a baby, her doctor submitted a sample of her blood to the Human Genome Project." Noah gritted his teeth. "And now this Dr. Suresh thinks that Claire has special powers."

"But has she manifested?"

"I don't know for certain, but I think she has." Noah took off his glasses for a moment, polishing the lenses before placing them back on the bridge of his nose. "The other night, Jackie came by with some good news for Claire, she's on the cheerleading squad. She and Jackie got into an argument, there was some roughhousing, I don't know. The upshot of it was that Claire's hand got cut pretty badly. She had to go to the emergency room for stitches. The next day, I went to New York to see this Dr. Suresh, when I returned, I asked Claire if I could see the cut on her hand." He looked at Ava, his eyes filled with worry. "The cut was gone."

"Gone? In just a day or two it was gone?" Ava's eyes widened.

"Completely and totally. There wasn't even a scar. It had healed up practically overnight."

"Whoa." Ava sat back in her seat, her eyes sparkling with surprise. "Now THAT'S a power I wouldn't have minded having, cellular regeneration."

"You're not seeing the big picture here, Ava. Claire has almost definitely manifested."

Ava nodded. "Oh I see the big picture alright. If she's manifested, it means that you have to turn her in to the company."

"I have to give up my little girl." Noah blinked back tears. "You and I both know that. I'll have to turn her over for testing and-"

"-you'd have to give her to Thompson." Ava's face grew hard. "And that's not fucking happening." As Noah watched her, her face twisted angrily. "He's not getting his hands on your girl, Noah."

Noah breathed a sigh of relief. "So you see what I'm facing?"

Ava nodded slowly. "I see. You can't turn her in."

"I have no intention of doing that." Noah shook his head. "But I need help."

Ava smiled at him. "Tell me what you need and I'll do it, no questions asked."

Noah smiled back at her, feeling a weight lifted from his shoulders as a waitress walked over to them. "Well hey there, Ava!" The waitress greeted her. "Lord girl, where have you been?"

Ava smiled up at the waitress. "Hey Charlie!" She stood and hugged the young woman for a moment. "I was away in Bogota."

"Oh." Charlie grinned at her. "Visiting with that hot guy you're always bringing in here on Saturday morning, the one who always orders scrambled eggs with jalapenos and chili peppers?"

Ava shook her head, her smile fading. "Not exactly. Unfortunately he was killed a few weeks ago. I went there to pay my last respects."

"Oh Sugar that's terrible!" Charlie placed a sympathetic hand on Ava's arm. "Oh my, that's just-" she shook her head sadly. "-I'm so sorry, I know you two were very close."

"Thank you." Ava sighed. "It's been pretty rough these last few weeks."

"I'll bet." She turned to Noah. "How sweet of you to worry about your friend, Mr. Bennet."

"Thanks. She's been working with me for so long now, I wanted to touch base with her the moment she got back." Noah nodded.

"Well," Charlie lifted her pad, sighing "I don't know if you have much of an appetite after what you've been through but-"

"-Actually I'm starving." Ava smiled kindly up at her. "And I think I'll have-"

"-Your regular?" Charlie nodded. "Scrambled eggs, ham steak, toast with strawberry jam and grits with extra butter with a tall orange juice?" She turned to Noah. "And I know you're probably going to order the same, only with hash browns instead of grits and coffee along with the orange juice, right?"

Noah stared at her, surprised. "Just how often DO I come in here?"

"Pretty often, but that's not why I remembered what you always order." Charlie shrugged self-consciously. "It's weird but I've been remembering EVERYTHING lately."

"That's not weird at all. It actually sounds pretty handy to me." Ava handed her menu to Charlie.

"It does come in handy, I will admit that." Charlie laughed. She glanced over her shoulder, and noticed a young Asian man walking past, pushing a busboy's cart. He smiled at her and blushed before walking on, pushing his glasses up as he cleared off a table nearby.

"Looks like you have an admirer." Ava teased.

Charlie blushed. "Oh, that's Hiro. He's new." She laughed softly as she turned away from Noah and Ava. "I'll have your orders up in just a sec."

Ava raised an eyebrow at Noah as Charlie left. "Suddenly remembering things?" She smiled. "Ya think?"

"I don't know and I'm not going to investigate her or alert the company to her." Noah grinned. "Right now, I say live and let live."

"Unless the company comes after Claire, then it's live and let die." Ava crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Tell me you have a plan."

Noah nodded. "I have a plan."

* * *

June 23, 2007

As they entered the building from their run, Claude met them at the door, shaking his head angrily. "I've had it! I refuse to train that little-"

"-What did she do now?" Bob asked wearily as he mopped his sweaty brow.

"What DOESN'T she do is the question and I'll give you the answer now: LISTEN! She doesn't listen, she doesn't pay attention and she's acting like a fucking brat!" Claude turned to Ava. "I don't know what in the hell she did to get you so bloody pissed that you refuse to train her, but I have to tell you, suck it up and train her anyway. You're the only one that spoiled, immature little trollop listens to. If she pissed you off so badly, take it out on her in the training room, beat her narrow ass to a pulp and finish the training because I'm DONE!" He turned and stomped away as Ava sighed.

"Shit." She muttered. "I don't even want to have to look at her, much less train her."

"What the FUCK did she do to you?" Sylar asked, frowning as he noticed the guilty looks that Noah, Peter and Matt exchanged. He pointed to them. "You three! You know what she did, out with it?"

"She just acted like a pain, that's all." Matt turned and walked away.

"It's more than that, I know it!" Sylar whirled around on Peter. "Well?"

"If Ava doesn't want to talk about it, I'm not discussing it either." He turned and walked away from Sylar with Noah quickly following behind him.

Sylar turned around, noticing the confused expression on the others' faces. "Does anyone ELSE know what's going on?"

Angela pursed her lips together, her eyes narrowing. "No. Apparently the rest of us are just as in the dark as you are, but rest assured, I'm about to take care of this myself." She grabbed Ava's arm and turned to Bob. "Don't follow us, you always make the situation worse." She escorted Ava towards the gym and stopped, raising an eyebrow at Sylar when he tried to follow them. "Don't you have a dog to walk?"

"What?" Sylar glared at her. "I have a right to know what's going on here!"

"You need to go walk that bouncing pile of fur you call a dog before he shits all over your quarters, so GO!" Angela stared at Sylar imperiously for a moment before he finally turned and stomped off. "I don't understand why people are so scared of him." Angela mused. "He's really just a bully who backs down when faced with a strong woman, obviously he has issues with his mother due to that." She turned back to Ava and shoved her towards the gym. "You and I are going to sit down with Miss Bishop this second and deal with whatever's crawled up your asses this instant!"

* * *

April 29, 2006

Eden McCain looked up from the couch in her room as the door opened. She frowned as Noah Bennet walked inside, followed by a young red-haired woman. "Okay, what's up with this?" She stared at Noah. "I heard you rarely come in on Saturdays."

"I do when it's work required." Noah nodded to Ava. "This is Avery Reese, she's an agent with the company."

"And?" Eden's brow furrowed. "Does this have to do with that assignment you were tempting me with the other day? I still haven't decided if I'm going to do it or not."

"Oh, you'll do it, and Agent Reese here will go along with you to provide back-up." Noah nodded. "I have it on good authority that an apartment directly across from Chandra Suresh's has recently become vacant. It's been rented in your name. On Monday morning you're going to be moving in there and Agent Reese will be posing as your sister. She will be helping you move in."

"My sister?" Eden snorted as she took in Ava's green eyes and red hair. "So what were you, the family recessive gene?"

"I'll be changing my hair color before we go to match yours." Ava sat down on the couch beside Eden, smiling at her for a moment before scanning the room they were sitting in. "Wow, it's been a while since I've been in here." At Eden's confused expression, Ava shrugged. "This was my room when I first came here."

Eden raised an eyebrow at the frilly pastel décor. "So you were what, fifteen when you came here?"

"Close, seventeen." Ava smiled. "I've been with the company for nine years now. I've become one of their top agents. It's a good place to be, especially for people like us."

"What's your power?" Eden asked.

"Trust me, you don't want to know." Ava cocked an eyebrow at her. "I understand that you can convince people to do what you want, right?" Eden nodded. "Don't try it with me."

"So what's your main job here?" Eden stared at her. "Are you the company executioner or something?"

"Something like that." Ava nodded. "Like I said, don't use your power on me, you won't like the result." She smiled again at Eden. "As long as you remember that, I think that the two of us will get along fine in New York."

"Will you be living with me?" Eden asked.

"No." Noah shook his head. "Ava's going to be living in an apartment a couple of blocks from yours. You're going to be on your own for the most part, but don't think that doesn't mean that you won't be watched, understand? If you try to run, if you try to double-cross us-"

"-I've got it." Eden nodded. "I'll be a good little girl, befriend Dr. Suresh, take your daughter's name off of that list and return here the conquering hero."

"Exactly." Noah sat on the arm of the couch, staring down at the young woman. "And you're not to discuss this mission with Mr. Thompson."

"Who?" Eden frowned, her brow furrowing.

"My boss." Noah shrugged as Eden glanced over at Ava, noticing the way she frowned and looked away at the mention of Thompson's name. Eden raised an eyebrow for a moment before turning back to Noah as he continued to speak. "If he finds out that my daughter has manifested a power, he'll take her from me."

"And we don't want that to happen." Ava finished.

"No. We don't." Noah sighed.

"Why not?" Eden's eyes widened. "What would they DO to her?"

"You don't want to know." Noah stared at the ground. "The treatment you received when you got here-"

"-you mean being tied up and having my mouth duct-taped?" Eden smirked.

"Yes. What they would do to my daughter, the tests they would run on her, it would make your first day here seem like a trip to a five-star hotel."

"A day at the beach." Ava nodded.

Noah stared down at Eden. "You weren't tested when you came here. We do that most of the time with people we recruit as agents, we bring them in and subject them to minimal testing at best. The others that we bring in here-"

"-you test them in a pretty rough manner, I'd gather." Eden grimaced.

"Some we do, yes. When we're finished, we inject them with a radio isotope for tracking purposes, wipe their memories of their stay here and release them back into society, if we think they're SUITABLE for release, that is."

"What do you do with the unsuitable ones?" Eden asked. As Noah and Ava glanced at each other before looking away, she nodded as she sagged in her seat. "Oh. I see." She laughed nervously as she watched the two of them. "Well, good thing I've been deemed suitable for society then."

"Only if you agree to be an agent and work for this company." Noah stared down at her. "If not-"

"-I die." Eden whispered. She took a deep breath before swallowing back a lump in her throat. "When do we leave for New York, Sis?" She asked Ava.

* * *

June 23, 2007

Angela hauled Ava into the gym, raising a haughty eyebrow as she spotted Elle. The girl in question was curled up on the floor, reading a fashion magazine as she listened to an Ipod. Ava's eyes widened. "That's mine, you little thief!"

Elle ignored her as she continued to listen to the music, slowly licking a finger before flipping the page on her magazine. Ava started towards the girl while trying to yank her arm out of Angela's vise-like grip. As Ava turned to yell at Angela, she stopped at the expression on the older woman's face. "I don't know what your vendetta is against Ms. Bishop," Angela said quietly "but we'll work it out, starting now. Let ME take care of the larceny while you calm yourself." Ava nodded as Angela stroked her arm, then her hair. "Just calm down, please. Ms. Bishop and you are going to sit down together, talk with me and work things out, understand?"

"Okay." Ava whispered softly. As Angela smiled and released her arm to walk over to Elle, Ava blinked and looked around the room, confused. "Wait, did you just-?" She gasped as Angela turned back to her and slyly winked reaching down and snatching the magazine away with one hand, the Ipod with the other. Elle shrieked as the earbuds were painfully yanked from her ears.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Elle looked sharply up at Angela.

Angela held her hand out behind her, wordlessly handing the Ipod back to Ava before glancing down at the magazine in her hands. "I was wondering where my latest issue of Vogue had gotten off to." She mused. "You know, in many countries, stealing is punished by chopping off the hands of the offender." As Elle's eyes widened, Angela gave her a tight smile. "Good thing you don't live in one of those countries, isn't it? I must say though, I certainly would find it rather entertaining to see you fight that bloodthirsty freak Kane without your hands." She glanced over her shoulder at Ava. "Send Hiro in here, tell him to bring his sword."

"Oh, you've GOT to be kidding me!" Elle jumped up from the ground, her mouth hanging open. "Just because I borrowed-"

"-borrowing things without asking is akin to stealing, wouldn't you agree, Ava?"

Ava smirked. "Oh, I most definitely agree with that. Should I tell Hiro to sharpen his sword or just hack away and hope it'll do the job with one blow?"

"CUT IT OUT!" Elle glared at Ava. "You're just pissed because I blabbed that you-"

"-SHUT IT!" Ava yelled at Elle. "Just hush for a few minutes, okay?" She turned and opened the doors to the gym, glaring at Sylar as he lurked outside of them. "With your hearing, I figured you'd just try to eavesdrop from our room."

Sylar shrugged. "What's going on? What did Elle say to you?"

"Go walk Mac." Ava started to close the door and frowned as Sylar lifted a finger, keeping it open.

"I think I have a right to know."

"Not if it doesn't concern you." Ava glanced over at Angela. "Care to ask him to leave yourself before we go to the sound proof room to hash this out?"

As Angela took her place at the door, Ava walked over to Elle. "My stuff is off limits, got it? You cannot 'borrow' my clothes, my dog, my Ipod or my guy, do you understand me? And I swear to God, if you say what you saw outside of a sound proof room again, I'll rip your vocal chords out, understood?"

"Whatever." Elle shrugged. She frowned as she glanced over Ava's shoulder. "What in the hell is she doing to him?"

Ava turned and watched as Angela spoke to Sylar while stroking his upper arm. He nodded as she spoke, his eyes glazing over more and more with each pass of her hand over his arm. "She's just convincing him that being nosy isn't such a great idea."

After a moment, Sylar looked up and met Ava's eyes. He nodded to her as he cleared his throat. "I'll see you back in our room."

Ava tried not to laugh as she nodded back to him. "Yeah, you do that."

As soon as Sylar left, Angela walked over to Ava and Elle, her arms crossed in front of her chest. "Well? Out with it! What's caused Ava to finally decide to write your skinny little ass off?" She asked Elle.

Before Elle could speak, Ava shook her head. "Not in here. I don't know how long that whammy you put on Sylar will last, and he doesn't need to hear this."

"Fine." Angela sighed, a bored expression on her face. "Let's go to the sound proof room and then you two had better start talking, or else I'm going to wear a blond wig, put Kaito in a red one and sideline the both of you."

* * *

May 3, 2006

"What's my name again?" Ava asked as she stretched her legs, wincing. "God, I hate flying coach." She muttered.

"Your name is Melissa McCain." Eden recited. "You're two years older than I am. We've both moved to New York City from Newark. I work in an antique book store and you are a docent with a local art gallery." Eden frowned. "Isn't a docent a hard job to get in New York? I'd figure there would be tons of people with art degrees fighting to get into galleries and museums."

"There are, I have a connection to a gallery, though. I have an old friend whose daughter runs a gallery and he's agreed to bring me in to pose as a dealer and docent."

"You have a lot of old friends and connections, don't you?" Eden glanced at Ava out of the corner of her eye. "But you're not friends with that Thompson guy. I could tell by your body language that you obviously can't stand him. Why is that?"

"I just don't like him, that's all." Ava flipped through some files as she tried to stretch her legs again, grimacing. "Noah couldn't have shelled out some company money for First Class? I've got to remember to talk to him about this."

"You're very close with Mr. Bennet though, aren't you? I can tell." Eden nodded. "You seem very comfortable with him. He's like a father to you."

"Very much so." Ava nodded as she continued to go through files. "Remember, we're flying into Newark first to pick up a rental car. From there, we're driving to Brooklyn where we'll meet with the moving van that Noah and I sent out on Monday to get you moved in."

Eden stared at Ava, her brows knitting together. "A moving van? Why?"

"On Sunday, Noah and I went around to a few second-hand stores and got some furniture for you. It's nothing gross or skuzzy, I promise, we just got stuff that looked like what a young woman moving to New York for her first job would have, sort of a shabby chic motif. Anyway, we put that in a moving van and sent it to Brooklyn, they should be arriving there this afternoon. If we want this to look good, if we don't want to get Chandra Suresh's back up and make him suspect that something is hinkey, we have to make you look the part from the very beginning. You have to look like a young woman who is moving to Brooklyn with the few bits of furniture she could afford for her first job in the city."

"Playing a part, got it Aves." Eden sighed. "I'm used to playing parts. I had johns that loved it when I did some role playing." At Ava's surprised expression, she smirked. "Oh, I see someone didn't read everything in my file. After my dad left and my stepmother died, correction, after I KILLED my stepmother, I had nowhere to go but the street. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to survive, right?"

"Right. And for the record, I DID read your file, I was just surprised that you talked about your past so freely."

"It's in the past, it's not who I am anymore, but I'm not going to run away from it or hide it, either." Eden sighed. "It made me who I am today." Cocking an eyebrow at Ava, she smirked again. "So, you read my file?"

"Your name is Sarah Ellis. Your father left home when you were a child, leaving you with a bitch-crazy stepmother who treated you like a servant. It was your job to tend to the house if you didn't want to be tossed out on the streets. Finally one day, you snapped and told her that you wished she'd just die. What you didn't realize was that you had manifested your ability and it killed her, causing her to drop dead in front of you. You didn't kill her on purpose, Eden."

"She's still dead nonetheless." Eden shrugged and looked away. "Whether I meant to do it or not, it doesn't change the fact that she's no longer among the living."

"I know." Ava sighed and shook her head. "Trust me, I KNOW." She glanced at Eden, noticing the rapt expression on the girl's face. "When you manifested you killed one person, try killing most of your classmates."

"SERIOUSLY?" Eden looked around the cabin of the plane and shrugged, noticing that there weren't many people on board. She leaned close to Ava. "Are you kidding me?"

"Ever read or see _Carrie_ or that cheese-fest from the seventies called _The Fury_?"

"No shit." Eden stared at her. "Yeah, when you said that pissing you off isn't a good idea, you really weren't joking, were you?"

Ava shook her head. "Nope."

Eden laughed softly. "_The Fury_, huh? That movie was made before we were born, you do realize that, right?"

"I know, but when it's late at night, you can't sleep and there's shit-all on the television, you take what you can get."

"Well, think of it this way, at least your not as whiny as Amy Irving was in that movie."

"Which one?" Ava laughed, with Eden joining in.

* * *

June 23, 2007

Angela sat down in a chair, her brows knitting together as she took in everything that Ava and Elle told her about the scroll. Templing her fingers under her chin, she nodded. "So Ava is going to be the one who is seriously hurt in this fight, possibly killed."

"I don't think 'possibly killed' is a fair description." Elle snorted. "She looked pretty fucking dead to me in the vision."

Angela pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow at Elle. "How tactful of you to put it that way, my dear. If you showed that much decorum and diplomacy in blabbing it to Agent Reese, I can see why she's not too keen on associating with you at this time." As Ava nodded, Angela's eyes cut over to her. "But we don't have a lot of time before Kane finds us, thanks to Ms. Bishop and young Mr. Nakamura's outing. We don't have time for petty arguments and fights and we don't have time for you to sit around and sulk because Ms. Bishop did what she always tends to do: put her foot in her mouth. Here's what the two of you are going to do. Elle, you are going to keep your head down and your mouth shut. If you breathe a WORD of that damn scroll to ANYONE else, I'll personally see to it that you are subjected to a lifetime of pain from here on out. If Mr. Sylar ever found out that Agent Reese is destined to be seriously injured or killed in this fight, I have a terrible feeling that he'd take his fear of losing her out on the rest of us. Just who do you think I'd throw at him first, young lady?" Elle swallowed audibly as Angela's eyes bore into hers. "You're going to never mention that scroll or what you saw in it again. You're not going to tell your father or whomever you've invited into your bed at night. You're going to continue to train your ass off with Agent Reese and you will do EVERYTHING she tells you to do from here on out without complaint, even if she beats you to a bloody pulp all day, every day until Kane decides to show up here. You will refrain from leaving this facility until you have been told that you can leave. You will go to bed at an early hour to get the rest you're going to need and you're going to stop drinking and slutting it up with every man that glances in your direction. You are going to live and breathe your training from here on out. If you do not comply with every order I have given you, I will 'convince' Mr. Sylar that he'd really like to have the power of manipulating electricity. Do we have an understanding?" Elle nodded and Angela leaned forward in her chair. "I don't listen to body language, I want to hear you tell me that you are going to be a good little girl from here on out and that you will keep that silly little trap SHUT!"

"I understand." Elle whispered. "I'll be a good girl and I won't talk about the scroll or what I saw in them."

Satisfied, Angela turned to Ava. "And now it's your turn. I don't care if Ms. Bishop hurt your feelings, I don't care how much she pissed you off by shooting that pie hole of hers off. The only thing I care about is that there is a lunatic who is almost certainly on his way here to destroy each and every one of us, before he continues to travel the world and destroy others like us, when he's not being a whiny baby and killing couples because four-hundred years ago, some silly woman hurt his feelings by choosing Hiro over himself. The only way we're going to save ourselves as well as those that we have sworn to protect is by putting our anger and hurt feelings aside and getting the job done. I thought you were a professional, Agent Reese."

"I AM a professional, Mrs. Petrelli." Ava nodded.

"Then prove it. Continue to train Ms. Bishop, since you apparently seem to be the only one who can get through that thick, empty skull of hers and get her ready to do her part when Kane finally shows himself. If you want to take your anger out on her in the training room, have at it, but don't permanently maim or kill her for the moment, alright?"

"Agreed." Ava glanced over at Elle and covered a laugh as Elle cringed beside her.

"Very well." Angela stood up, pulling back her shoulders to regard the two younger women imperiously. "I'd hate to have to see either one of you 'retired' before the battle begins because you both preferred to act like children." She turned and walked out of the room as Elle stared at Ava.

"Retired?" She asked weakly. "What does she mean by retired?"

Ava rolled her eyes. "It means exactly what you think it means."

Elle groaned. "I was afraid of that." She started to walk towards the door. "See you tomorrow."

"For?" Ava stared at her.

Elle turned, her hand on the doorknob. "For my training. We're starting back up tomorrow, right?"

"Did you train today, or did you just act like a brat with Claude and refuse to do anything?" At Elle's shamefaced expression, Ava nodded. "That's what I thought. Meet me in the gym in ten minutes. You don't get a day off!" She stepped past Elle and walked towards the gym as the younger woman leaned against the doorway watching her trainer stomp away, her hands balled into fists.

"I'm so screwed." She moaned.


	36. Chapter 36: Distractions

Chapter Thirty-Six: Distractions

June 23, 2007

Elle groaned as she ran on the treadmill, glancing over at Ava through the sweat that poured down her forehead into her eyes. "You're like a machine." She muttered.

Ava ran on the treadmill beside her, her breathing regular as she ran. She glanced at Elle's treadmill and smirked. "You've only gone two miles, keep going."

"Two miles?" Elle panted. "How long am I going to do this?"

"Until I decide that it's time for you to stop." Ava growled.

Elle burst into tears and hit a button on her treadmill, making the machine stop. "I'm sorry, okay?" She turned to Ava, her chin trembling as tears spilled out of her eyes. "I was just pissed off because things didn't go my way and I lashed out and said things that I shouldn't have said. I'M SORRY!" She leaned on the rails of the treadmill and buried her face in her arms, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed.

"Keep running." Ava told her.

"NO!" Elle lifted her head and shook it. "Stop that machine and let me fucking apologize, GOD!" She watched as Ava continued to run and finally reached out, pressing the button to turn her machine off. Ava yelped as she lurched forward and caught herself before she fell. "Sorry, but I want to talk to you, okay?"

"Lesson's over." Ava grabbed a towel and headed towards the door of the gym.

"WAIT!" Elle wailed. She ran after Ava, trying to jump in front of her. "You're the only person here who's treated me like another person instead of like a sexpot or a dumb kid, please don't give up on me!" She stopped, her expression miserable as Ava ignored her. "I shot my mouth off and I'm sorry, okay? You're the only actual friend here that I have, please don't hate me. I don't want you to d-"

"-Shut up!" Ava turned to her, her eyes blazing. "What did I tell you about shooting your mouth off?"

Elle gulped and nodded. "Please listen to me. I'm sorry I was a brat."

Ava looked away as Elle continued to stare at her pleadingly. "Be here at six a.m. for the next training session." She turned and walked away as Elle sat on the floor and buried her face in her arms, her wails following Ava out of the gym.

* * *

May 3, 2006

"Here's the building." Ava and Eden pulled up in front of an apartment building in Brooklyn. Ava smiled as she noticed the moving van parked ahead of them. "Perfect timing." She turned to Eden. "Ready?"

Eden nodded. "Let's do this, Missy." As Ava stared at her, she giggled. "What? Sisters have pet names for each other, I'm just playing the part. I figure that when I started to learn how to talk, I couldn't say 'Melissa' correctly and called you 'Missy' instead. I think it would be a cute back story." She frowned. "Too much?"

Ava laughed softly. "No, actually that works pretty well. Let's go Edie!" She grinned as she climbed out of the car with Eden and walked over to the movers. "You guys here with Eden McCain's stuff?"

The mover nodded. "Yep! The boxes are all yours, we're just here to move the heavy shit."

"Gotcha." Ava climbed into the truck and grabbed a box, handing it to Eden. "It's a walk-up, so pace yourself."

"Cool." Eden nodded. As they started to carry the boxes in the building, Eden glanced over her shoulder at the movers with disgust. She started to speak to Ava as they approached the door, almost running into a tall, thin man who was entering the building. "Oh shit! Sorry!"

"It's fine." The man said softly. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he opened the front door for them. "Here, allow me."

"A gentleman!" Ava smiled at him. "Those still exist here in New York?"

The man blushed and ducked his head down. "Mom always taught me to open doors for ladies." As he held the door open, Ava tripped over the doorway. He quickly reached out and caught her. "And to help ladies in distress." He reached for the box she was carrying and took it from her. "Here, let me."

"Wow, thanks!" Ava and Eden exchanged a look as the man carried the box into the building. "I could carry it though, really. It's only six floors."

"You're moving to the sixth floor?" The man turned and smiled at Ava as he not-so-subtlety checked her out.

Ava shook her head. "Not me, my sister Eden. I live a few blocks over."

"Oh." He nodded. "Which apartment are you moving to, Eden?"

"612."

"Right across from Dr. Suresh." The man mused.

"Who?" Eden and Ava exchanged a quick look at each other, pretending to be indifferent.

"Dr. Suresh!" The man turned to them, excited. "Oh, he's a very interesting man! He's a geneticist from India, he moved here to continue his research."

"I see." Ava smiled softly at him. "And is he researching you?"

The man shrugged as he climbed the stairs behind the 'sisters'. "Somewhat. I'm actually helping him with his research. He's a very brilliant man, he wrote this incredible book called _Activating Evolution_ have either of you heard of it?" The girls shook their heads as he sighed. "Oh, it's very interesting. You should read it, really."

"I'll look around for it." Ava nodded. As they reached the sixth floor, she took the box from him. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. If you two need any more help, just ask." He pushed his glasses back up his nose and smiled shyly at them.

"Will do." Ava smiled. "I'm Melissa McCain, this is my sister, Eden."

"Gabriel Gray." The man watched as the sisters entered apartment 612 before turning and walking into apartment 613.

Ava set the box down on the floor and turned to Eden. "Interesting guy."

"I suppose. Kind of a Poindexter though. What was up with the sweater vest and shellacked hair? SERIOUSLY?"

"He seemed nice enough, and I thought he was pretty cute." Ava sighed. "Ready to grab some more boxes?"

"Those movers are useless. They're just making us carry the smaller boxes so they can watch our asses, aren't they?"

Ava grinned. "I think so. Good thing I wore my booty jeans, huh?"

"Maybe THAT will be their friggin' tip!" Eden laughed as she followed Ava out of the apartment. "Come on, Missy!"

In Chandra Suresh's apartment, Gabriel watched the sisters leave through a peephole in the door. Chandra chucked as he watched him. "They must be pretty."

Gabriel blushed as he fiddled with his glasses before turning and sitting down. "They're nice enough, especially the sister of your new neighbor."

"Oh?" Chandra glanced up at the young man, smiling softly. "You should ask her out, Gabriel."

"No, she's too pretty for me. I know girls like that, Mom's set me up with plenty of them. They're looking for more than a simple watchmaker."

"Now Gabriel, you and I both know that you're infinitely more than a simple watchmaker." Chandra winked at him.

* * *

June 23, 2007

Sylar looked up from his lunch as Ava walked into their room and flopped onto the bed. "That was a short session, decided to give her a break after all?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Ava muttered as she covered her eyes with her arm. "What a brat."

"She sounded pretty sincere about apologizing to you." He lifted his head up, listening. "She's still crying in the gym. What happened, Ava? What did she say to upset you both so much?"

Ava lifted her arm and glanced over at him. "You're not going to stop this until I tell you, are you?"

"Nope." Sylar folded his arms and leaned forward on them. "Spill it."

Ava shrugged as her mind raced to think of a good lie. "While you were gone last night, I told her how disappointed I was in her for sneaking out the way she did. She just shot her mouth off and said that it didn't matter how disappointed in her I was. She admitted that she was planning on hiding out when Kane arrives so she won't have to fight him and then she said that she hoped I'd die."

"She said WHAT?" Sylar's eyes narrowed.

"She was just lashing out, Hon." Ava sighed. "She apologized as soon as she said it, but it pissed me off, so I've been trying to keep away from her since then."

"She hurt your feelings, didn't she?" Sylar stood and walked over to the bed, stretching out beside her.

"Yeah, a little I guess."

"It does sound like she feels bad about it." He nibbled on her shoulder. "Maybe you should accept her apology?"

"Maybe." Ava rolled over to face him, grinning. "After she stews and frets a little longer. There's something else I'd rather do right now."

"What?" Sylar asked.

Ava winked. "You." She kissed him as she rolled over on top of him, pulling off her tank top as they kissed.

* * *

May 3, 2006

Ava and Eden collapsed on the couch, exhausted after a long day spent unpacking. "Crap! I'm tired!"

"Tell me about it." Eden murmured. She turned to Ava, smiling. "But I'm not THAT tired!"

"Meaning?" Ava stared at her.

"Come on! We're in New York City, the city that never sleeps! We should go hit a few bars."

Ava shook her head. "Count me out."

"Oh! Don't be like that! You're what, twenty-six?"

"Technically, I'm twenty-eight. At least, that's what my driver's license says."

"So? You're still in your twenties. We're young, we're pretty, we're in a big metropolis, we should kick up our heels and party!"

"Eden, we're not HERE to party." Ava grumbled.

"Oh you grumpy thing!" Eden sighed. "What am I going to do tonight, huh? You and Bennet expect me to just stroll across the hall, knock on Dr. Suresh's door and just say 'Give me your list so I can take Claire Bennet's name off'?"

"With your power, you technically COULD do that." Ava sighed. "But after your little whammy wore off, he'd just track down Bennet and accuse him of sending you. If Thompson figured out the real reason why-"

"-You're fucking him, aren't you?" As Ava turned to her, her eyes wide, Eden nodded "or at least, you used to fuck him, am I right?"

"What?" Ava sat up as she started to breathe hard. "What are you talking about?"

"This Thompson guy." Eden nodded as she frowned. "You get very uncomfortable talking about him and I get this very angry vibe whenever someone mentions him. You slept with him and I don't think it was consensual on your end, not really. You act the same way about Thompson the way I acted about this pimp I had a few years ago. You're angry, you're uncomfortable and you're obviously desperate to get out from under his thumb."

Ava looked away, shaking her head. "I can't believe you're asking me this."

"It's obvious!" Eden sighed. "Well, obvious to me, at least. Bennet doesn't have a clue. If he did, I suspect he'd probably beat Thompson to a pulp, am I right? I get this fatherly vibe coming off of him around you. He's very protective of you."

"I need to go." Ava quickly stood and started for the door, refusing to look at Eden.

"LOOK!" Ava stopped, her hand on the doorknob as Eden stood. "You don't have to talk about it, I know you don't want to, but if you ever need to." She held her hands out and shrugged. "I've been there, okay? That's all I'm saying. I've been where you are, being forced by some asshole to do things you don't want to do."

"You talking about this assignment now?" Ava asked softly, blinking back tears.

"Nope." Eden smiled, her dimples flashing. "This assignment is what I want to do. From what I've gathered about this Thompson creep, I don't want him taking Bennet's kid any more than you do. If he's as sleazy as I think, God only knows what he would do to her. I'd like to protect her from that. I'm talking about being forced into sex. I'm talking about a guy who thinks he's more powerful than you are, throwing his weight around and being a threatening ass to get you to screw him. Like I said, I had a pimp like that. What he didn't realize though, was that I was more powerful than he ever thought about being. Sure, he could smack me around, break my nose, put a gun in my face, but what he didn't realize was that all I had to do was open my mouth and say just the right thing, and he would have turned that gun on himself." Eden frowned. "I finally made him do it when I'd had enough. When are you going to pull the trigger on Thompson?"

"I can't, not yet." Ava whispered.

"I get it, he's got something on you, something that could get you into deep shit with the guys that are even higher up than he is, right? Fuck 'em! You're tough, you're powerful and you can kill anyone you want just by thinking about it. Let him do his worst!"

Ava turned to Eden as she wiped away her tears. "You've been there too?"

Eden nodded. "Staring at the ceiling while they fuck you, wishing they'd hurry up and get it over with already while hoping they don't decide to start smacking you around just so they can get off even more? Yeah, I've been there."

Ava nodded slowly. "He beat the shit out of me a few months ago. I thought he'd broken my nose at first. He also has a thing for handcuffs and rope."

"God, we seriously need a drink." Eden grabbed a light coat and tossed it to Ava before grabbing one for herself. "First round's on me and don't tell me that you're too tired! Damn!"

* * *

June 23, 2007

Sylar lay on the bed, trying to catch his breath as Ava lay snuggled beside him. "Holy shit." He gasped. Turning to Ava, he smirked. "Okay, never mind. Stay pissed at Elle all you want."

"Was it THAT good?" Ava kissed him gently.

"Baby? That rocked my world." Sylar kissed her back for a moment. "Work out your frustrations on me all day long if this is the result."

"I guess I do need to hear her apology again and maybe accept it this time." Ava sighed. "She still crying in the gym?"

"I can't tell, my ears are ringing." Sylar pulled Ava into his arms. "Apologize later. More world-rocking now." He moaned as he climbed on top of her.

"You're being quite the fun distraction this afternoon." Ava whispered as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

"What can I say? I like to be distracting."

* * *

May 3, 2006

Gabriel Gray exited the apartment building as he rubbed his eyes. He'd spent all day and most of the evening at Chandra's, helping him attempt to track down others on his list. He thought about the other people out there, wondering what kind of powers they'd have. He thought about the man he'd killed in his shop just a few days earlier and the power he'd acquired from him. "Should I keep going?" He asked himself softly. "Should I try and collect more?" He stopped as a cab pulled up in front of the building and recognized Chandra's new neighbor Eden as she stumbled out of it. He watched as she drunkenly turned and reached into the cab.

"Come on Missy! Time to pour you onto my sofa-bed!" She giggled as she attempted to help her sister Melissa out of the taxi, stumbling and giggling as Melissa fell onto the sidewalk. "Ooops!"

"I'm okay! I'm okay!" Melissa lay on her back, laughing. "Did the cab stop moving?"

"Yep!" Eden nodded, swaying as she leaned over her sister. "You fell out of it."

"Well, that explains why I'm staring at stars." Melissa slurred. She slowly rolled over and tried to stand up, moaning as she fell to her knees. "Where's my apartment?"

"You forgot the address, we're at my new apartment." Eden giggled.

"Oh? Can I crawl up the stairs, you think?"

"You're gonna have to. I don't think you can walk and I'm not carrying you!"

Gabriel sighed and stepped forward. "Mind if I come to the rescue again?"

Melissa studied him for a minute. "Hey, it's the cute gentleman who helped carry that heavy box. You're so cute and nice and helpful."

Eden smirked as she leaned in the window of the taxi, paying the cab driver. "Thanks." She murmured. She turned to Gabriel. "My sister got drunk."

Gabriel watched as Eden tried to keep her balance. "I don't think your sister is the only one who got drunk."

"I can hold MY liquor." Eden snorted. "I'm not the one crawling on the sidewalk in Brooklyn at eleven p.m.!"

Gabriel leaned over Melissa and helped her stand up, catching her as she sagged in his arms. Sighing, he picked her up and carried her into the building with Eden trailing along behind him. "611, right?"

"Yep." Eden murmured. "You should make her walk, silly little drunk."

"I'm as free as a bird." Melissa giggled. "No jackass Thompson calling me for a kinky-ass booty call! I'd like to see him find me here, dirty bastard!"

At Gabriel's confused look, Eden shrugged. "She had a bad break-up recently. He was pretty abusive."

"Abusive bastard!" Melissa muttered. "Beat the shit out of me, almost broke my nose! One of my eyes was swollen shut. Simon found me, took care of me."

As Gabriel turned back to Eden, she shrugged again. "Old family friend."

"He died last month." Melissa whispered.

"I'm sorry." Gabriel sighed. "You must have been close."

"He was better in bed than Thompson ever thought about being." Melissa rested her head on Gabriel's shoulder. "Sometimes I think I should have let him get me pregnant. We'd have had a pretty baby."

"I see." Gabriel nodded, shaking his head as the woman in his arms babbled drunkenly.

"Moved here with my sister to start over." Melissa sighed. "I'm going to start working at a gallery tomorrow. Ever hear of Simone Deveaux?"

"Can't say that I have." Gabriel said as he climbed the stairs with her in his arms.

"She's got a gallery downtown. It's nice. Her dad's an old family friend too, got me the job."

"That was nice of him."

Melissa nodded. "Mr. Deveaux is a very nice man. I'm going to visit him tomorrow and see how he's doing. He's been sick."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Gabriel arrived on the sixth floor and turned to Eden as she stumbled onto the landing. "You okay?"

"Better than her." Eden shook her head. "What was I thinking, getting her to go out with me? I didn't realize she'd drink so damn much!"

"I had FUN!" Melissa kicked her legs into the air as she giggled. "I can't remember the last time I honestly felt this free! It feels good to be free. I drank and danced and drank some more. I loved it." She sighed.

"Sounds like you had a good time." Gabriel waited for Eden to unlock the door and followed her into the apartment. He watched as Eden stumbled towards her bedroom. "Just put her on the couch?"

"Yeah." Eden moaned. "I'd stay and help, but-" She clutched her stomach "-Oh GOD!" She turned and ran for the bathroom as Melissa giggled in Gabriel's arms.

"And she said I can't hold MY liquor!" She wrapped her arms around Gabriel's neck as he set her down on the couch, staring at him lasciviously. "You going to tuck me in?"

Gabriel blushed and shrugged. "I think you'll be okay here for the night."

"I'd be more okay if you joined me." Gabriel gasped as she kissed him, softly at first, but then with more urgency. He pulled away from her, frowning as she stared up at him. "We shouldn't."

"Why?" Melissa pulled him down onto the couch and kissed him again as she straddled him. "God you're so cute." She pulled his glasses off and smiled at him. "Very cute indeed."

Gabriel closed his eyes as they kissed again, his heart pounding as Melissa's tongue probed his mouth. He felt his blood boil with passion as she ground her hips against his, her lips sliding to his neck as his hands slid up her back. "You're drunk and I really shouldn't do this. I don't want to take advantage, but God it's been so long since anyone even-" he frowned as he realized that she had stopped moving on top of him. "Melissa?" He sighed as she began to snore, her face buried in his neck. "Damn." He stood with her in his arms and turned, gently placing her on the couch. He stroked her cheek for a moment, then her dark brown hair before he found a throw pillow on the floor. He carefully placed it under her head before he grabbed an afghan off of the back of the couch. He draped it over her, tucking it around her body before he leaned down and quickly kissed her cheek. "It was for the best, I suppose." He mused. "You're too pretty to ever look twice at me if you were sober anyway. Damn." He looked up and spotted Eden watching him from the doorway. "She's asleep."

Eden raised an eyebrow. "Passed out before she could rape you, huh?" As he blushed and looked away, Eden chuckled. "But I don't think you'd have let it go that far, I heard you protesting while I was barfing. You seem like a nice enough guy."

Gabriel shrugged. "Nice guys like me aren't enough for pretty girls like her."

Eden shook her head. "Don't be so sure. She probably wouldn't be a great catch for you right now, but that's only because she's getting over some seriously fucked up issues. She's had it rough the last few years."

"I heard." Gabriel nodded. "Abusive boyfriend."

"Abusive boyfriend and former boss. He thinks he still owns her, too." Eden frowned. "I'm hoping that she'll be able to start over around here. Just give her some time, you know? She said earlier that she thought you were cute and she was as sober as a judge, then. Let her get over a few issues, then I think you two might actually make an interesting match."

"Yeah, right." Gabriel turned and headed for the door. "You might want to put a bucket or something beside her, unless you want to clean up puke in the morning."

"If she pukes, I won't be the one cleaning it up, she will." Eden sighed. "But I'll get a bucket and see if she can actually hit it."

"Goodnight." Gabriel started to open the door.

"Hey." He turned as Eden smiled softly at him. "I'm not bullshitting you, you know. She did think you were cute when she first met you. Thanks for bringing her up and thanks for not taking advantage of her. You're a decent guy."

"No problem." Gabriel walked out of the apartment and walked down the stairs to the sidewalk below. He glanced up at the building, watching as the light in Eden's apartment turned off. "Goodnight, Melissa." He whispered to himself. As he walked home, he thought about the woman he'd met and the way she'd felt in his arms. He shivered slightly as he remembered the way she'd kissed him, how her body had felt pressing against his. He fantasized for a moment about how it would have felt if they'd continued, if she hadn't passed out on top of him. Closing his eyes, he could almost feel her lips against his again. "God, she was beautiful." He whispered to himself. "But someone like that would never go for a loser like me, no matter what her sister says." He shook his head. "I'm not special for a woman like that, not special enough yet, anyway."

* * *

June 23, 2007

Sylar shuddered and collapsed on top of Ava, gasping for air as she nibbled on his earlobe. "I could stay like this forever."

"Me too." Ava sighed. She stared up at him, smiling softly as she stroked his cheek.

Sylar looked at her. "What?"

"Just remembering the first time I met you, the VERY first time."

"When you were Melissa?" Sylar chuckled.

"Yeah." Ava kneaded his shoulders as he lay on top of her. "I thought you were so cute then."

"You mauled me that night when you were drunk, do you remember that?"

Ava nodded. "I was pretty ashamed of myself the next morning. I just knew that I'd made the worst impression ever."

"Trust me, you didn't make a bad impression at all." Sylar rolled off of her, smiling as she rolled with him to lie on top of him, her head on his chest. "There were a lot of lonely nights after that one where the memory of you grinding on top of me before you conked out kept me company." He sighed. "I was afraid that I was the one who'd made a bad impression by kissing you back and almost letting you-" he shook his head "-I was weak. If you hadn't passed out-"

"-We'd have become lovers about eight months earlier than we did?" Ava raised her head to watch as Sylar nodded. "Interesting."

"Everything happened for a reason, I suppose." Sylar stroked her hair. "We had to go on and do other things first. I had to become a crazy-ass killer and you had to-"

"-run away and hide from Thompson in Spain." Ava frowned. "I should have just killed the fucker before I left, but Mr. Linderman wouldn't let me."

"It was for the best. I wouldn't have wanted to kill you in New York and trust me, if I'd found out about your power back then, I probably would have tried at the very least. I was just starting to lose it, wanting to gain more and more power to become-" he frowned "-whatever the hell it was I wanted to become." He sighed. "I'm sorry I killed Eden."

"She knew better than to try to go toe-to-toe with a killer like you without some kind of back-up." Ava shrugged. "I hate that she's gone and I hate that you killed her, but I don't hate YOU." She lifted her head and stared into his eyes. "I could never imagine hating you."

"Same here." Sylar's hands glided along her bare back, his fingers trailing along her spine. "I never thought that I could ever fall in love or-" he smiled softly "-I love you, Avery. I could never imagine hating you either, even when you drive me insane and piss me off beyond all reason. I love you."

"I love you too." Ava kissed him gently and sighed. "I guess I need to go and talk to Elle."

"Do you have to?" Ava shivered as Sylar's fingers began to knead the small of her back. "I'd rather keep you in here a little longer."

"Save my place." She kissed him again before climbing out of bed. "I won't be gone long."

"I'll definitely be waiting here." Sylar sat up and watched as she dressed before he lay back down, wrapping blankets around his body. "Right here, naked and ready."

"Just the way I like you." Ava winked as she walked out of the room. She made her way to the gym and opened the door, shaking her head to see Elle still sitting on the floor, her knees pulled up to her chest, her face buried in her knees. As the door opened, Elle lifted her head, her eyes red and swollen from crying. "Come on." Ava whispered.

"You're going to beat the shit out of me now, aren't you?" Elle asked pitifully.

"No." Ava's voice was tired as she jerked her head towards the hallway. "Come on."

Elle slowly stood up and walked into the hallway, shrinking away from Ava as she passed her. She followed Ava to the sound-proofed room and walked inside with her. Ava sat in a chair and pointed to one across from her. As she sat down, Elle looked sadly at Ava. "I really am sorry."

"I know." Ava shook her head. "I knew when I first started training in this job over ten years ago that when I died, I wouldn't die easily. I knew that I wouldn't die in my sleep of old age, I knew that the end would come almost certainly violently and painfully." She laughed softly. "Because of that, I tried not to let too many people get close to me. I had Bennet and I had Claude, that's all I wanted. They were my closest and only friends and they were my family. I had sex with random guys when I felt the need to have my itch scratched and I saw someone on a mission that got my blood pumping, but I never fell in love, I never allowed myself to feel that, not after an incident that happened to me in London. I had one lover for a few years that had to fake his death to get out of The Company. He loved me, but I never loved him back, I never let myself. I simply told myself all the time that I couldn't feel that kind of love for someone because I didn't have much of a future." Ava blinked away tears. "Then six months ago, that all changed for me. I was put in charge of Sylar. At first I treated it like any assignment. I stayed detached on the inside while I pretended outwardly to be his loving wife. He got to me. It's silly, right? A killer got into my heart. He made me finally remember what it felt like to truly love someone and hope for a future. I even began to imagine what we'd be like together once Kane was killed. I found myself making plans, wanting to maybe get married, have children, live happily ever after, you know?" Elle nodded, her eyes filling with tears as Ava turned to her, her eyes shining with tears as well. "You took that away, Elle. When you told me about that scroll and what you saw for me, my fate, you took all of that away. You killed my hopes and my dreams."

"I'm sorry." Elle sniffled.

"That's why I've been so pissed. I'm not just angry with you, I'm angry with all of this. I'm angry at myself for falling in love and being stupid enough to think that I had any kind of future, and I'm angry that I have to die in just a little over two weeks. I'm angry that Sylar is going to probably have to be killed after I die, just to protect everyone that I care about from facing his wrath and I'm angry that you were the one who told me about this instead of my other friends, the people who have been loving and protecting me all of these years, who thought that they could protect me from that fate one last time." Ava sighed. "But I don't have time to keep being angry. I don't have time for anything but my man." She leaned towards Elle as tears began to fall. "I don't want to spend what little time I have left being a bitch and having to kick your ass to make you train, Kid. I want to spend these last few days loving the man that I have and thanking God for bringing him into my life, even if it is just for a brief time. Can you let me do that? Can you train without complaint and let me have as much time with Sylar as I can before Kane gets here and kills me?"

Elle nodded quickly, choking back a sob. "I'll do it."

"Thank you." Ava stood and headed towards the door. "You really can't tell ANYONE else about that scroll. I don't want him to know about this, not until after it happens. I'm still trying to find a way to save him from himself, I don't want you fucking that up."

"I'll do whatever I can." Elle jumped up quickly, throwing her arms around Ava's neck and hugging her. "I don't want you to die." She sobbed. "I know I was a brat and I was so rotten for telling you, but I really don't want you to die. You're the only person around here who treats me like a grown-up most of the time."

Ava laughed softly as she hugged Elle back. "You know, if you acted like a grown-up more, people might start treating you differently."

"What's the fun in that?" Elle laughed softly as she swiped tears away. "Fine, I'll attempt to start growing up a bit, I suppose." She nodded. "Don't worry about me shooting my mouth off anymore."

"Thanks." Ava sighed. "I need to go."

"Go on." Elle winked. "Go slam your man against the head board a few more times. Have fun."

"I will." Ava opened the door. "See you tomorrow morning at eight."

"Eight? What about six?"

Ava smirked. "Fuck it, sleep in a little. God knows I'm going to need the extra sleep too." She turned and left as Elle grinned.

"Sleep in. COOL!"

Sylar looked up from the pillow as Ava walked back into the room. "That was quick." He frowned. "You've been crying. You and Elle get everything straightened out?"

Ava nodded, smiling at him. "We cried it out and then hugged it out. We're cool again."

"Good." Sylar watched as Ava stripped in front of him and climbed under the covers beside him. They began to kiss passionately as Ava straddled him, moaning as she quickly began to move on top of him. Grasping her hips, Sylar lay back, his eyes half closed. "Very good." He moaned.


	37. Chapter 37: Testing the Limits

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Testing the Limits

June 24, 2007

"This is torture." Matt groaned as the group ran through the snow early in the morning. Shivering, he glanced over at the compound. "I almost would rather be inside getting my ass kicked by Bitchzilla Ava than be out here in this crap running until I feel like puking."

Sylar shrugged as he ran beside Matt. "Actually, Ava and Elle aren't up yet. She told Elle to sleep in and meet her in the gym at eight."

"EIGHT?" Matt groaned. "It's six a.m.! That's weak!"

"Come on, Mates!" Claude called to them as he ran ahead. "The last one in the compound when we finish running is going to get an extra lap around the building."

"Oh fuck that!" Matt ran faster, pushing past Peter, Sylar, Noah and Hiro.

Peter raised an eyebrow. "I guess he doesn't want that extra lap."

"Me neither." Sylar wheezed as he pushed ahead. He glanced over his shoulder at Peter. "Come on before Candice and Mohinder catch up with you, Man!"

Peter grinned and lowered his head, running to catch up with Sylar and Matt. Matt grinned. "I see the baby daddy has decided to join us. How IS Niki doing?"

"When she's not puking her guts out?" Peter shrugged. "She's constantly lowering the temperature in our room, swearing she's burning up. I think it was fifty degrees in there when I left this morning. She was conked out, snoring and farting."

"Ah, I remember those days well." Matt nodded. "All of it."

"Please, you don't remember shit." Noah smirked as he caught up to them. "You spent the first part of Jan's pregnancy either running across the country with me and Ted, or groaning in a hospital bed."

"Yeah, because SOMEONE SHOT ME!" Matt glared at Sylar.

"You're the one who fired the gun at me, you jackass, I just gave you the bullets back." Sylar smirked.

"You couldn't just let them drop?"

"Nope." Sylar shook his head.

"Asshole." Parkman muttered.

"You fired the gun, you're the asshole." Sylar groaned. "My legs are on fire out here!"

"OY!" Everyone's heads snapped up to see Claude glaring at them as he ran backwards. "If you've got enough wind to talk, you've got enough wind to run faster you pansies now MOVE IT!"

"Busted!" Claire giggled as she galloped past them.

Matt moaned as Claire ran past them, barely breaking a sweat. "Man! She's gonna beat us!"

"ANYONE WHO REACHES THE COMPOUND AFTER CLAIRE DOES A SECOND BLOODY LAP!" Claude barked at them.

Matt rolled his eyes. _Damn Claire, slow down. I don't want to run another lap._ He thought to himself. His eyes widened as Claire suddenly slowed down, letting Matt, Noah, Peter and Sylar catch up to her.

She grinned sheepishly and shrugged as she ran alongside them. "Decided not to make you guys run another lap, you looked like you were about to fall over."

"Thanks." Matt frowned, staring at his feet as he ran, a pang of guilt gnawing at his conscience. _Did I do THAT?_ He wondered to himself.

* * *

May 4, 2006

Ava strolled into the building and rode the elevator to Charles Deveaux's apartment. She smiled at the young woman that answered the door, admiring her café au lait complexion and startling blue-green eyes. "I'm Melissa McCain."

Simone Deveaux nodded. "Simone Deveaux. Dad said you were coming. He said that your parents were friends of his many years ago." She offered her hand, shaking it as she led Ava inside, leading her to the rooftop patio. "I understand you're going to be working as the new docent in my gallery?" Ava nodded. "Good. I've got some very interesting works to show you from this new up and coming artist, Isaac Mendez. He's absolutely brilliant!"

"She always says that about Isaac." Ava turned and beamed as she saw Charles Deveaux. Her heart ached as she noticed his ashen appearance as he sat in a wheelchair, wrapped in a blanket. He smiled at her. "My girl loves supporting Isaac, though I have to agree with her, his work is quite interesting indeed." He held out his hands, taking Ava's and squeezing them gently. "It's been a long time, my dear 'Melissa'. How have you been?" He winked at her.

"Good." She sat down across from him as Simone turned and walked back into the apartment.

Charles' eyes twinkled merrily as he studied her. "I like the hair. I prefer the red on you, it's a good warning to those that try to cross you given your abilities, but the dark brown works quite well on you too. It sets off those dangerous green eyes."

"Well, my partner is dark-haired and we're posing as sisters. I figured it would be easier to dye mine dark than let her try to be a redhead. There are so few of us that can pull it off."

"Quite true, quite true." Charles started to chuckle, then gasped and began to cough. Ava stared at him worriedly as he held up a hand, shaking his head. "It's okay. I'm okay." He sighed as his breathing returned to normal. "Well, I'm not exactly okay, but I'll be fine eventually." He turned and nodded to the young man that rushed to his side from inside the apartment. "Peter, Peter, I'm fine, Son."

Ava studied the young man in the dark blue scrubs as he tended to Charles, noticing the caring way he checked the older man's vitals. She smiled softly at him, nodding appreciatively. Peter finally stood, brushing his long bangs out of his eyes. "Just take it easy, Sir."

"I will." Charles sighed. "A man can't even laugh anymore?" He winked kindly at Peter.

Peter blushed and shrugged. "Just take it easy."

"I will, I will." Charles shrugged and glanced up at Peter. "I think Simone's making some tea if you'd care to join her. As Peter nodded and walked back into the apartment, Charles smiled over at Ava. "Boy's got it pretty bad for my Simone. I think they'd be a lovely match if she weren't with Isaac."

"He seems like a nice young man." Ava nodded.

"He is." Charles nodded slowly, watching Peter retreat. "He's the future of all of us." He turned to Ava, his smile kind, yet enigmatic. "You may be calling him 'Boss' one day if he doesn't listen to his mama hissin' in his ear. He'll be the best of all of us too, just wait and see. Boy's got heart."

"You're saying he has a power, like me?" Ava glanced over at the closed patio door, intrigued.

"I think he does, though he doesn't know it yet. I bet it's gonna be a powerful thing too." Charles turned back to Ava. "But enough about the future, let's talk about the here and now. What brings you to New York, and don't give me any of that 'I'm just training a new agent' bullshit, Girl. I'm old, I'm sick and I'm dying. I don't have time for bullshit."

"Not that you ever did." Ava smirked.

"Not that I ever did." Charles repeated as he winked. "So? Out with it, Kid. You have the scent of a woman who has had enough of a dirty old man sticking his fingers where they don't belong and you have the look of a woman who's plotting some nasty revenge. That what brought you to New York? You finally gonna pull the trigger on that lech Thompson?"

"Eventually." Ava sighed and nodded. "You and Kaito were right about your suspicions."

"No shit." Charles raised an eyebrow. "That man's stink was all over you, Honey. It was obvious that he was using you in the worst way a man can use a young girl like you and it made me truly sick that you refused to admit it." Ava stared down at her hands, the corners of her mouth turning down sadly as he admonished her. "There, there." Charles gently squeezed her hand. "I spoke with Daniel recently and he told me everything. He told me that Thompson blackmailed you, threatened to hurt two people that were quite dear to you if you ever talked about his abuses towards you." Charles raised an eyebrow as Ava raised her eyes to meet his. "He also told you that he gave you permission to finally kill the disgusting bastard once he's no longer useful."

Ava nodded softly, her eyes hardening for a moment. "As soon as Mr. Linderman has finished using him for some project, Thompson is mine to do with as I wish."

"Glad I'm not in his shoes." Charles took a deep breath, struggling not to cough. "I think I'll take the demise I'm scheduled for than whatever you've got planned for him. Sure, what's going to happen to me will be painful enough, but I have a feeling it'll pale in comparison to whatever you have in store for Mr. Thompson."

Ava turned her hand in Charles', grasping it gently. "I'm so sorry about what you're going through, Mr. Deveaux."

"No need." Charles shook his head. "I lived my life and it was a good one. I did a few things I'm not too terribly proud of, but most people can attest to the same. I'm sure there are many things, besides Thompson, that you've done as well, yes?" Ava nodded softly. "So mind telling me what's brought you to New York? Is it just getting away from Thompson, or is there more? I have a feeling there's more going on."

"Can I trust you?" Ava asked.

Charles' eyes widened for a moment in surprise. "I'm almost offended you'd ask me that, young lady."

"Sorry." Ava sighed. "There's a geneticist here, a Dr. Suresh. He's figured out a way to find out who among us has powers and who doesn't. He has a list of names."

"And it's your job to collect the list." Charles studied her for a moment, his eyes narrowing. "Wait, no. That's not your job." He smiled softly. "It's your job to take a name OFF of the list, yes? You or the agent you're training?" Ava nodded slowly. "Bennet's daughter. Claire." He whispered. As Ava began to speak, her face registering surprise, Charles winked. "I know her family. Girl comes from quite interesting stock, so to speak." He quieted for a moment as Peter returned to check his vital signs and give him medication. Charles submitted to the quick exam and took his meds, giving Peter a kindly, but curt dismissal before returning to Ava. "She's like young Mr. Petrelli there. She's the future of our kind." He smiled mysteriously. "Very much like Mr. Petrelli, actually. When Kaito handed the child over to Bennet, she was so very young and innocent. Some of us believed that handing her over to Bennet was simply a way for her to be monitored so she could be brought back into the company once she manifested, but there were a few of us, Kaito and myself included, that knew that Bennet would actually protect her from the company once the time came. We knew he'd protect her innocence, we counted on it, actually. Some of us don't want her brought forcibly into the company, that would only serve to make her a robot, we want her to WANT to join the company, willingly, one day. We want her to work one day with that young man in there and others like him and like you," as Ava stared at him, surprised, he smiled "you still have a heart as well, much like young Peter and younger Claire. You three will probably be the best this company has, two who entered willingly, one who was recruited when she had nowhere else to turn, the three of you coming together to make this company stand for something great again, with others, of course."

"You think I still have heart, after everything I've done and been trained to do?"

"Of course." Charles studied her. "I saw it in Vegas after you were told to kill the Eastern Europeans. You did it willingly, but I could see a great deal of pain in your eyes at having to take a life. Killing doesn't come as easily to you as you like to think it does, does it?" Ava grimaced and looked away. "You might be the company's 'executioner' so to speak, the hammer we drop when we have no other choice in the matter, but you don't like it. You try to hide your heart, hide your feelings, hide that you even have feelings, but they're there nonetheless. Yes my dear, you still have a heart. Your devotion to Noah Bennet and his kin proves that. I see your future and it is filled with love." Charles' eyes took on a far away look as he gently stroked her hands in his, nodding softly. "You've even found that love already, though you don't even know it yet. It won't be revealed for a while yet, but that love with change not only you, but him as well. It'll change those around you, causing them to do things that they didn't think were possible. Yes, you still have quite the heart and quite the capacity to love and be loved. You will sacrifice a lot for the one you love, but I have a feeling that in the end, you'll find happiness through it for a very long time indeed." Charles blinked for a moment, smiling bashfully as he let go of Ava's hands and shook his head. "Sorry about that. Sometimes I tend to drift off into my thoughts."

"Is that your power, Sir? You're a precog?"

"Not exactly." Charles shrugged. "I'm just a firm believer in the power of true love and the power that the strength of a good heart can change the world more than the strength of a man seeking power and corruption. I suppose I'm just an old hippie at heart, still." He shivered softly. "It might be May, but there's still a chill in the air, isn't there?"

"A little, yes." Ava nodded.

"Care to take me inside before Simone takes you to her gallery?" Charles sighed. "I'm starting to get a bit sleepy."

"Of course." Ava stood and walked behind Charles, taking the handles of the wheelchair as he let go of the brakes on the side. She gently pushed him into the apartment, leaving the springtime chill of the patio outside.

* * *

June 24, 2007

Bob strolled sleepily into the galley and poured himself a cup of coffee. He looked up as Matt walked quickly into the galley, searching the room. "Good morning, Mr. Parkman, how was your run?" Bob asked dryly. "Sorry I couldn't have been there this morning." He shrugged. "Doctors told me to stop running so much. Shin splints."

Matt marched over to him, his eyes wide with shock. "You said you knew my father?"

Bob nodded slowly as he sipped his coffee. "I knew him very well many years ago."

"You said that I had the same power that he had, what power would that be?"

Bob set his coffee down, regarding Matt with a bored expression. "I already told you-"

"-he can control aspects of the mind, right." Matt nodded. "Define 'control'."

"Anything the mind can do, is capable of doing, he could control it and you'll be able to do so as well." Bob grimaced as he sipped his coffee. "I need more sugar." He started to turn away as Matt rolled his eyes.

_God you asshole! Enough with the sugar, enough with the halfway explanations, tell me what I want to KNOW!_

Bob stopped mid-turn, his eyes glazing over for a moment before he turned back to a terrified-looking Matt. "Your father started out with his power the same as you." Bob said almost robotically. "He could read minds. Soon he discovered that he couldn't just read minds, he could communicate telepathically as well. He'd read your thoughts and talk back to you without ever opening his mouth. Sometimes we'd have whole conversations without ever actually speaking a word. He was one of my best friends, once upon a time, actually. We were an interesting pair, the nerd and the schlub. He even asked me to be your godfather, though you don't remember it. We had a falling out when you were a small boy and then he took off and abandoned you and your mother when you were just thirteen. I don't even know if he's alive anymore." Bob sighed.

_Keep going._ Matt nodded, cringing with guilt as he saw his demand register in Bob's face.

Bob nodded. "After the mind-reading and telepathy, Maury discovered that there was even MORE he could do. He could compel you to tell things that you didn't want to tell, just by demanding it. He could FORCE you to tell your deepest, darkest secrets. No one was immune. He found out so many things about all of us by abusing that power, things he held over our heads for money." Matt looked away, looking ashamed as Bob continued to speak. "That's why we had our falling out, actually." Bob shook his head sadly. "It always hurt me that he blackmailed me that way. He really was my best friend of the twelve of us. He couldn't just compel you to talk though, he could make you DO things just by thinking about it. You have no idea the women he slept with just by making them think they HAD to have him. He'd get people off of the streets to just turn and hand him things. Once, he compelled a woman to take off her fur coat and give it to him at Christmas."

Matt stared at the floor. "I remember that coat. He gave it to Mom for Christmas when I was ten."

"Yes, he did." Bob nodded slowly. "He could make you go to sleep if he wanted, he could make you turn flips and cartwheels if he demanded it, all with his mind." Bob shuddered. "He could even make you hallucinate and see things that weren't there. He'd put you in a dream state and either show you your worst nightmares or greatest fantasies. All of it with his mind." Bob looked up at Matt. "And soon you'll do the same thing. You'll have the capability if you work on it."

Matt found a chair and sank into it as he buried his face in his hands. "What if I don't want to work on it? What if I don't want those kinds of powers?" He shuddered. "My father turned into a corrupt, criminal man because of them."

Bob nodded. "True, but I've noticed something about you that I never noticed in your father." Matt looked up at Bob through his fingers. "You have morals. Your mother instilled those in you. You have a conscience."

"Yeah, right. You realize I just forced you to tell me everything, right?"

Bob chuckled. "I felt that familiar tickle in my mind. I knew what you wanted, I decided not to fight it." He walked past Matt, gently patting him on the shoulder. "You'll use those powers wisely, much more wisely than Maury did, I'm sure. You WILL need to strengthen them though, push them as far as you can. We'll need every advantage against Kane that we can get. We'll need you to mess with his mind, push it as far as you can, as well as keep the rest of us in check. We'll need you to possibly make us move when we're in danger and frozen in our tracks and compel us to back off when we're running headlong into danger. I think Elle may need your power in this fight. Something tells me she might try to run once she gets a load of what Kane can do. I'll need you to keep her compelled to stay in the fight."

"Yeah, right." Matt looked away.

"Just practice. I think you'll make all the difference in the end." Bob started to leave as Matt turned and glanced at him.

"When this is over, you're going to force Ava to kill Sylar, aren't you?" Matt asked. _Tell me the truth._

Bob glanced at Matt over his shoulder. "Most definitely. He's too dangerous to ever live." He turned and walked out of the room as Matt shook his head.

"Not if I can help it." He muttered.

* * *

May 4, 2006

Gabriel moaned in his sleep, dreaming about the woman he'd encountered the night before. He carried her into her sister's apartment and had begun to kiss her, groaning with anticipation as she'd straddled him, the pressure of her grinding hips creating waves of pleasure that pulsed throughout his body as her lips teased his. His hands slid around her waist to grasp her hips, urging her to continue her movements as he lay back on the couch, feeling her lips slide to his neck. Instead of passing out as she did in reality, she continued to kiss him, unbuttoning his shirt as her lips nibbled and teased their way down his chest, making him shudder with desire as her hands unbuttoned his pants and slid inside of them. "Oh God!" He moaned. "Don't stop." He gasped as her hands began to grasp and stroke, making him crazy before her mouth joined her hands. He grasped her shoulders as her head moved in his lap, his breath coming in quick gasps before he finally began to scream in pleasure.

He awoke, shivering in his bed, breathing hard. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Gabriel groaned as he climbed out of bed. "This hasn't happened to me since I was fifteen." He quickly stripped the bed, tossing the sheets in a pile on the floor before stripping off the pajamas and underwear he'd worn to bed. He quickly climbed into the shower, cursing himself for the erotic dream and for sleeping through his alarm. "Get her out of your head, she'll never go for you." He said to himself as he stepped into the steamy shower and began to bathe. "You're just a lowly watchmaker, nothing more. You'll never be special enough for someone like her." He quickly finished showering and stepped out, wrapping a towel around his waist before walking back into his bedroom and dressing after toweling off. Snatching up the soiled sheets and clothing, he tossed them in a laundry bag with self-loathing before putting clean, fresh sheets on his bed and leaving for work.

A few hours later, he sat in his watch shop, bored as he thought about the tests Dr. Suresh had run on him the day before. Telekinesis was starting to wear thin, the testing was almost over and soon, Dr. Suresh would tire of him. Gabriel looked around, realizing that he hadn't done any business that day and probably wouldn't for the rest of the day as well. Sighing, he grabbed his jacket and keys and left the shop, locking the door on his way out.

He quickly made his way to Dr. Suresh's apartment, giving a quick glance towards Eden's door and blushing as he thought about the way her sister Melissa had kissed him the night before and the dream he'd had that morning. Shaking his head, he turned and knocked on Chandra's door, smiling as the doctor answered. "Gabriel! Good afternoon, come inside."

"Thank you." Gabriel walked inside, glancing over at the map on Dr. Suresh's wall, his mouth suddenly watering as he thought about other powers that were out there, powers that he could acquire.

"So what brings you here this afternoon?" Dr. Suresh poured two cups of tea, handing one to Gabriel. "Maybe hoping you can get another look at our neighbor's pretty sister?"

Gabriel looked away, willing away the memory of the dream as Chandra chuckled softly. "No, I was actually thinking about the others on this list. You've been talking about approaching some of them." He turned and walked over to the map, smiling softly. "Have you given any thought to my suggestion?"

"To bring you with me when I visit them?" Chandra nodded. "Oh yes. I think it would be a wonderful idea. You were right, Gabriel. I think others might be more receptive if I brought someone along, someone special like them."

Gabriel smiled softly as he sipped his tea and studied the map. "I think so too."

* * *

June 24, 2007

Matt watched as Ava and Elle entered the gym and paced in front of the door for a moment. "Ooooh, I can't do this. Elle's too fucking scary and Ava? She's my partner, she's my friend-" he sighed "-screw it." He entered the room, stopping as Ava and Elle began to approach each other carrying staffs. "Maybe now isn't the best time to practice." He muttered to himself as Ava and Elle began to fight one another. He studied the way they moved as they fought, watching their hair twirl around as they smacked each other with the staffs. "Then again, a girlfight is never a bad thing to witness." He leaned against the wall, watching for a moment as Ava knocked Elle to her feet and backed off, waiting for Elle to get back up. He watched as Elle and Ava began to fight again, watching Ava's moves. He stared at Elle. _Block her to the left._ He grinned as Elle followed his directions. _Block her to the right. Now, fake her out with a move towards your left and then sweep the staff at her feet. _His eyes widened as Elle did what he told her, knocking Ava to the floor. Ava glanced over at Matt curiously as she stood, a soft smile playing on her lips as she and Elle began to circle each other again. Matt stared at Ava for a moment. _Fake her out, dodge her swing and cut around to the back to knock her over._ He watched as Ava performed the moves, knocking Elle on her stomach. Ava turned to Matt as Elle groaned and rolled over onto her back.

"Well, I see someone's discovering his inner Gepetto." Ava smirked.

Matt blushed and shrugged. "See ya!" He bolted for the door with Ava running behind him.

"GET BACK HERE!"

Matt cursed to himself and turned as Ava walked over to him, her arms crossed in front of her chest as she regarded him, amused. "Busted, huh?"

"I felt a little tickle in my mind, decided to go with it." Ava nodded. "You should know though, Noah brought in a mentalist from China for three months when I was seventeen to learn to fight mind control. I know when someone's trying it and I can fight it pretty well."

"Oh really?" Matt raised an eyebrow. _Take off your shirt._

Ava snorted. "You first, Matty."

Matt blushed. "You knew what I was-?" Ava nodded. "Shit."

"Keep going though, I said I can fight it well, I didn't say I could TOTALLY fight it altogether."

Matt sighed. "Thanks, but I'll test with someone else."

"Go for it. If you can make Angela quack like a duck, I'll take off my shirt anyway and get Elle to take off hers, too." Ava giggled.

Matt laughed with her. "Ah now, THERE'S a goal!"

"Oh please!" Ava rolled her eyes. "Like you weren't with Candice and Niki watching my 'home videos'! Hell, you probably brought the popcorn."

Matt gasped. " I would never-!" He babbled as he blushed. "-You were my partner in Odessa and I respected-" he shrugged "-busted again?"

"So totally busted."

"I only saw one." Matt shuffled his feet. "I couldn't look you in the eye for a week afterwards. I did see you on the monitor after you and Sylar moved in together in Primatech when you stripped for him that first morning, but only because everyone was watching to see when you two would start smacking each other down. That's the ONLY reason I looked."

"Right." Ava nodded.

Matt rolled his eyes. "Oh give me a break." Ava smirked as he blushed. "I wasn't actually LOOKING-" he sighed "-you're going to smack me with a shovel, aren't you?"

"Can I borrow the one you're using to dig yourself deeper and deeper with?" Ava laughed. "You're off the hook!"

"Thank you." Matt shook his head.

"If you really want someone to practice with, I'm willing, as long as you don't make me strip or do anything that would cause me, Sylar or Janice to rip your goolies off and wear them as earrings. If you can get ME to do what you want after I've put up a good fight, you can probably get anyone to do anything."

"I'll keep it in mind." Matt watched as Ava nodded and walked away. _Nice ass, by the way._

"You too!" Ava called behind him. "Someone's workout's showing BIG TIME!"

"You HEARD that?" Matt groaned. Ava waved to him as she walked back into the gym. "God, I've GOT to work on telepathy versus just having an inner monologue with myself." He groaned as he walked away.

* * *

May 4, 2006

Eden groaned as she entered her apartment and collapsed on the couch. "Dewey decimal system can bite me." She muttered. She sighed as she heard a knock on the door. "Come in."

Ava walked into the apartment. "This is New York City, you never say 'come in' and you never leave your door unlocked. What if I were a burglar or a rapist?"

"If you were a burglar I'd convince you there's nothing to steal." She looked around the apartment. "And I'd be right, basically. And if you were a rapist, I'd convince you there's nothing you want around here, unless you were cute, then I'd let you have your way with me, on my terms of course." Eden smirked. "You forget I'm not helpless." She waved her hands. "These are not the droids you're looking for."

"Cute, Obi-Wan."

"Thanks. One of my former regulars was a Star Wars geek. He liked dressing me up as Padme. Apparently he liked being SPANKED by Padme while the movies played in the background." She shrugged. "The first three were cool, but the last three were kinda stupid."

"George Lucas sucks when he writes and directs his own stuff. He should have let Kasdan do his magic with the last three that he did with _Empire_ and _Jedi_." At Eden's amused expression, Ava shrugged. "I told you I watch movies late at night when I can't sleep. I don't just watch fluff."

Eden giggled softly, her dimples flashing. "Obviously. So what brings my darling 'sister' by?"

Ava stretched out on the couch beside Eden. "Just checking on your progress with Suresh."

"That would be nada progress." Ava turned and glared at Eden. "WHAT? Just HOW am I supposed to do this, anyway?"

"He's a lonely old man who is thousands of miles from home-" As Eden returned the glare, Ava rolled her eyes "-I'm not telling you to FUCK him, Eden. Read the man's file. He had a daughter that died when she was very young, he's estranged from his son, he's lonely for family. Become a daughter figure to him. Check up on him, pretend to be worried about him living all alone. Bring him food, be his friend, keep him company."

"He's not that lonely, your little friend from last night spends a lot of time over there, too." Eden grinned as Ava looked away, blushing. "OH so you DO remember giving him a little lap dance before passing out on him?"

"Shut it." Ava sighed.

"My 'sister' likes 'em nerdy, apparently." Eden giggled and started to sing. "They see me mowin' my front yard, I know they're thinkin' I'm so white and nerdy-"

"-You're really getting into this bratty little sister act, aren't you?" Ava chuckled as she grabbed a throw pillow, swatting Eden with it.

"Yeah, kinda." Eden nodded. "All kidding aside, you should go out with him. He seems sweet and he's obviously a gentleman. After you passed out, he didn't try to feel you up or have his naughty way with you and he could have too. I was pretty drunk and I spent most of the night hugging the toilet. I couldn't have done much to stop him if he'd wanted to boff your drunk ass on the couch all night long."

"Trust me, I've had worse." Ava grumbled.

"Thompson?"

"Yeah." Ava shuddered.

"Pig. I haven't even met him yet and I just know it, he's a total slimy pig." Eden grimaced. "I'll try to visit Dr. Suresh and start hanging out with him."

"Thank you." Ava slowly stood up. "I'm going to my apartment to crash. My stomach's still churning from last night and spending most of the day in a gallery smelling oil paint didn't help."

"Go ahead, now that you remember where your apartment IS." Eden grinned at her.

Ava glanced over at her. "Brat."

"Bitch."

"Can you cook?" Ava turned to her as she headed for the door.

"Not really." Eden shrugged. "The only thing I'm good at is macaroni and cheese."

"Make it. Nothing like comfort food to win over a new friend." Ava nodded towards the door. "He might like it."

"I'll try it out. Have a good night."

"You too." Ava walked out of the door and closed it behind her. She turned and gasped as Gabriel stepped out of Chandra's apartment, pulling on his coat. "Oh. Hi."

"Hi." He looked away, blushing. "I'm not following you, I swear. I was going home."

"Me too." Ava glanced over at him, smiling softly at the way he blushed. "I just checked on my sister to see how her first day on the job went. I'm heading home myself." She nodded down the hall. "Wanna walk me out?"

"Sure." Gabriel followed her as she headed towards the stairs.

Eden sighed as she spied on them through the peephole. "Good girl. Take him home, fuck his brains out and get it out of your system. Both of you are so obviously in heat for each other it's not even funny." She rolled her eyes. "Geeks in lust." She walked away from the door and headed for the kitchen. "Mac and cheese. Hey, it can't hurt."

* * *

June 24, 2007

Late that afternoon, Matt and Ava sat across from each other at a table in the galley. Ava crossed her arms and yawned as she stared at the bottle of Tabasco sauce in front of her. "Keep trying."

Matt rubbed his temples. "My head hurts. The only thing that's happened so far is that I've gotten a headache and we've both gotten nose bleeds."

"Keep going." Ava nodded.

"Fine." Matt stared at her, pushing hard. _Drink it._

"You drink it, jackass!" Ava smirked as Matt groaned. "Gonna have to do better than that."

_DRINK IT! _Matt felt something give as Ava's eyes glazed over. She slowly reached for the bottle and opened it, as she opened her mouth and began to tilt the bottle towards it, Matt reached out, grabbing the bottle. "Okay! Okay! Don't drink it!" He pulled the bottle away from her as she shook her head, her eyes clearing.

Ava grinned. "You did it!"

"Yeah, and you almost set your mouth on fire." Matt set the sauce aside. "I'm not going to do a lot of convincing with you. You give me a headache, you give me a nose bleed and quite frankly, I just don't like seeing YOU of all people get controlled. It's not right." He watched as Niki walked into the galley and nodded to her. "Hey Little Mama, how's the baby?"

"Screaming for rocky road." Niki tugged at Ava's ponytail as she walked past. "How's training with the walking shocker going?"

"Okay, when she's not being an ass." Ava watched as Niki began to scoop ice cream into a bowl. Suddenly, Niki stared off into space, her expression going vacant for a moment before she turned and grabbed another bowl. Ava turned to Matt, her mouth hanging open as he grinned sheepishly before Niki set the bowl in front of him.

"You looked like you could use some." Niki gave him a peck on the cheek before she walked out of the room with her own ice cream.

Ava shook her head as Matt began to eat. "You little shit." Matt shrugged. "Next time tell her to make some for me while you're at it." She stood and stretched. "Well, now that I've trained Elle and I've worked with you, I'm going to go and punish Sylar for a while."

Matt rolled his eyes. "You're banging Sylar, Peter's banging Niki, Mohinder's banging Candice, Elle's banging anyone that looks twice at her, who's banging me? Nobody."

"Poor baby. You can get someone to play bouncy-bouncy with you if you wanted to." Ava winked. "You have the power, Obi-Wan."

"Cute." Matt shook his head. "I love my wife. Unfortunately."

"And it's endearing that you do." Ava stood up and kissed him on the forehead. "After Bennet and Claude, you do realize you and Peter are my other besties, right?"

"Oh, how sweet, I come in fourth." Matt joked as Ava walked out of the room. "Happy humping!" He sighed and ate his ice cream. "Come on little Matthew. Daddy's lonely, Daddy's horny, Daddy needs Mommy in a very naughty way."

* * *

May 24, 2006

Gabriel walked into his apartment, thinking about Melissa McCain and how it had felt to walk beside her to her apartment. They'd barely spoken as they walked down the stairs and later down the street to her apartment. Finally Melissa turned to him. "I want to apologize for my behavior last night."

"No need." Gabriel said softly.

"No, there's a need." Melissa stopped and took his arm. "I shouldn't have come on so strong and-"

"-you were drunk. I get it. You came on to the first man you saw, I'm fine."

"That's not true." Melissa sighed. "Listen, I think you're very handsome and if things in my life weren't so messed up right now, I'd probably be dropping every hint in the world to get you to ask me out." Gabriel stared at her, surprised. "But I just got out of a pretty nasty relationship." She grimaced. "I'm actually still trying to get out of it, actually. I'm just saying that if things weren't so complicated-"

"-Okay." Gabriel smiled softly at her, mesmerized by her green eyes. "I'll remember that."

"Good." Melissa leaned up on her tiptoes and pecked him softly on the cheek. "This is my apartment. I'm going in. Goodnight, Gabriel. Thank you for not taking advantage of me last night."

"You're welcome." He whispered, his cheek feeling as if it were burning where her lips had just been. "Goodnight."

He'd watched as Melissa had entered her building before hailing a cab to take him to Queens. Entering his apartment, he stretched out on his bed, touching his cheek where she'd kissed him.

"She thinks I'm handsome, maybe even special." He smiled to himself. "But I'm about to be even more special than even she realizes." He said as he pulled a scrap of paper out of his pocket, reading the name from the list. "Starting with you."


	38. Chapter 38: A Puzzle

Chapter Thirty-Eight: A Puzzle

June 30, 2007

Vancouver, Washington

Kane sighed as he noticed the roadblock ahead and glanced around for a place to pull his stolen car over, grimacing at the blood pooled along the armrest of the driver's seat. "Bloody hell," he muttered "bastards are getting quicker about realizing that I'm on the rampage. I suppose I should just steal these fucking things and not kill the owners to get it, but what's the fun in that?" He pulled the car onto the shoulder of the road and quickly turned to mist, gliding past the state police as they checked the driver's licenses of everyone they came across. He continued to glide along for a half-mile before materializing and looking around. Sighing gustily, he mussed his blond hair and clothes and started walking, his shoulders hunched over as he stuck his thumb out at any cars that passed him, hoping that someone would be stupid enough to offer him a ride in this day and age. He smiled to himself as he heard a car begin to slow down behind him and turned, trying to look as pitiful as possible as the car stopped beside him. He smiled softly as the passenger window rolled down and noticed the young girl leaning towards him from the driver's seat. She was pretty, probably not more than twenty years old.

"Need a ride?" She asked.

"Thank you. I'd love one." He nodded.

"Where you headed?"

"North. Tacoma." Kane smiled.

"I'm not going that far, but I can take you as far as Ford's Prairie."

"It's a start." Kane grinned thankfully at her as she let him into the car and drove away. _You'll go as far as Ford's Prairie, I'll be going MUCH further north._ He thought to himself.

* * *

May 31, 2006

Ava walked through Central Park with her bagged lunch, smiling to herself as she sat down in front of the Alice in Wonderland statue and set the bag on the bench beside her. "Good afternoon, Luv." She smiled as the familiar voice echoed behind her. "Got lunch for me too in there, or just you."

"I knew I'd be meeting you, I packed two sandwiches." Ava picked up the bag and opened it, setting one sandwich on the bench beside her as she tucked into the other in the bag. She stared at the empty space beside her and watched as the sandwich quickly disappeared. "How is it?"

"I don't bloody know yet. You think you've wrapped it in enough cling-wrap there?" Ava stifled a giggle as she heard Claude cursing beside her, and heard the rustling of the wrap. "Shit, you did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"Sort of." Ava shrugged. "I've gotta get my fun where I can find it."

"There we go!" Ava heard Claude sigh with happiness as he ate loudly. "Roast beef?"

"Left over from last night's dinner."

"Manna from heaven!" She heard Claude chuckle. "I didn't know you could cook."

"I'm an enigma wrapped in a mystery sometimes, I suppose." Ava sighed. "I get bored between assignments. Once I took a cooking class and learned a few things."

"This roast is excellent. I've mainly been eating what I could steal lately." She heard Claude take a deep breath. "I haven't made myself visible for a while now."

"Oh? Why not?" Ava frowned.

"You're here, that's why." Ava turned and stared at the empty space beside her, her brow furrowing. "I know you're here to do some project for Noah, some training exercise with that new girl, but you don't think Thompson's NOT checking up on you? If he saw you here with me, he'd lower the hammer on you but good and if he's got someone following you, the last thing either of us needs is for me to be spotted here in town, with or without you."

"You're invisible Claude, not non-existent. All it would take to spot you would be someone with infrared glasses." Ava stared at her sandwich, suddenly not hungry. "Thompson's probably got someone watching me, doesn't he?"

"Almost certainly."

"Shit!" Ava rolled her eyes. "I should have known. If Thompson finds out what Eden and I are REALLY up to around here-"

"-What ARE the two of you up to?" Ava glanced over at the sound of Claude's voice. "You're being secretive as hell, which is fine usually, but not when you keep me out of the loop as well. You tell me you're here training some new girl, but that's not the whole story, is it?" Ava shook her head slowly. "Is it a project Mr. Linderman has you working on?" Ava shook her head again. "Bloody HELL Ava! Tell me what's going on?"

"You can't know, okay?" Ava set her half-eaten sandwich on the bench, blinking away tears. "The less you know about what's going on, the better. The only thing I'm going to tell you, the only thing you'll ever get out of me as far as this is concerned is that Noah's got us on a special project. It's a project that, if Thompson found out about it, he'd not only destroy me, he'd destroy Noah and his family as well."

"The little girl's manifested, hasn't she?" Claude's voice was soft and sad. "She's manifested, someone knows and Noah's gotten so attached to the kid he's getting you and this Eden girl to take the other man out, right?"

Ava closed her eyes and lowered her head. "Not exactly." She shook her head. "I'm not telling you anything else, Claude. Just know that what's going on is dangerous, not just to me, but to Noah's entire family as well. If Thompson's watching me, if he's having me followed and they know you're here now, they could grab you and make you talk. I don't want Noah's family to suffer because we couldn't keep our mouths shut. I don't want Thompson getting his hands on that girl."

"The training I've had, I can withstand anything they throw at me if I'm nabbed, you know that."

"I don't want you put in the position to HAVE anything thrown at you." Ava slowly stood up and wiped away tears. "I'm going dark as far as you're concerned, Claude."

"Ava-"

Ava looked away, her chin quivering as she grabbed her purse. "I wasn't thinking when I called you. I wasn't thinking about the danger I was putting you in, or Noah, or his family, by contacting you. I was being selfish, wanting to be in contact again with one of the most important people in my life. Until this is done, until it's all done and Thompson's finally dead, I'm not going to contact you again-"

"-Ava, wait-"

Ava closed her eyes, trying to ignore the heartbreak in Claude's voice. "-I love you like a father, Claude. I love Noah the same way. I can't let my selfishness and Thompson's obsession with me bring you both down. I'm going to keep my head down and bust my ass to get this job done so I can destroy Thompson when Linderman gives me permission to finally kill him. Once that's done, I'll contact you again, I swear." She turned and walked away quickly, trying not to cry as she heard Claude's footsteps behind her. She stopped for a moment and shook her head. "Don't follow me, Claude."

"Don't tell me what to bloody do!" She felt a hand graze her shoulder. "You're as much a daughter to me as I am father to you. You might go dark and not contact me, but I'm going to continue keeping an eye on you. If someone tries to grab me, they'll have a fight on my hands and woe unto Thompson if he comes here and tries to bully you again. I'll stay invisible so you can have plausible deniability as far as I'm concerned, if questioned. You never knew I was around, protecting you, but protect you I will."

Ava nodded softly. "I have to get back to my job at the gallery."

"I love art. I'll hover around outside and make sure no one gives you hell. Besides, stupid rich people love pretentious art. I'll probably have a field day with the wallets I'll lift." Ava laughed softly and shook her head again. "That's my girl."

Ava walked to the gallery, aware of the invisible presence a few steps behind her. As she rounded a corner and entered the gallery, she didn't notice the young man lurking in a nearby alley, watching her silently. Gabriel Gray stepped out of the shadows and pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. He watched as she entered the gallery and greeted Simone warmly before taking a buyer by the arm and showing him a collection of paintings. "Stop following her." He muttered to himself. "Look at her, so pretty and smart. She'd never want you." He looked away, frowning and dug into his pocket, fishing out a name on a slip of paper. "I need to go home and pack anyway. Suresh and I have a person to visit and I have a power to collect." He smiled softly, savoring the idea of collecting another power. "Power, that's one thing I'll always be able to get my hands on." He turned and started to walk away and gasped, falling backwards onto the pavement as he ran into something. He frowned, looking around as he realized that the only person nearby was a woman walking past. He blinked as he noticed her handbag suddenly disappear from around her shoulder. Shaking his head, he pulled off his glasses and cleaned the lenses. "What the hell was THAT?" He asked himself as he put his glasses back on and stood up, brushing off the seat of his pants before heading back down the sidewalk, frowning. "Great, now I'm seeing things."

* * *

June 30, 2007

"What are you thinking about?" Sylar nuzzled Ava's neck as she stretched out on the bed beside him. "Thinking about the long, busy day we've had? Glad you and Elle finally joined us in the regular training sessions. Got her caught up?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Ava closed her eyes, smiling softly as she turned and began to kiss him. She groaned as someone began knocking on the door to their quarters. "You know, our teammates have seriously shitty timing."

"I think it's Matt. I can recognize his footsteps." Sylar murmured as he continued to kiss her, his hands sliding under her shirt. "Ignore him, he'll go away."

"I can't." Ava sat up and straightened out her clothes as Sylar groaned with frustration. Ava turned to him, smiling softly. "I promised him I'd work with him on his mind-controlling power."

"Tell him to take a rain check, I was just warming up."

"Stay warm." Ava kissed him gently. "I'll be back soon."

"Yeah, with a massive headache like last time." Sylar lay back on the bed, grimacing. "Why does he have to practice with YOU, anyway?"

"I already told you," Ava grabbed her shoes and headed for the door "Bennet had me trained to fight mental control. He wasn't so good at it, but I did pretty well. If Matt can figure out how to crack me, he can crack anyone."

"Fine, sure, whatever." Sylar sighed. "Can you not fight him to the point where your head hurts too much to make me squeal like a girl while making me feel like a man?"

"Now how would THAT help him?" Ava grinned.

Sylar winked. "I'm not that worried about helping HIM at the cost of my libido, Babe. Please just try to give in without your brain hemorrhaging or anything, okay?"

"I'll try." Ava blew him a kiss. "Be back soon."

"You'd better be back without a damn headache." Sylar muttered as he turned on the television and began to search through the DVD collection. "I'm tired of her coming back from training Matt with a headache."

Ava walked into the hallway and frowned as she realized that Matt wasn't alone. She stared at Kaito, Bennet, Peter and Hiro as they silently looked at her. "What?" She asked.

Hiro placed a finger to his lips as he lifted the scroll, nodding his head down the hall towards the soundproof room. Ava nodded and followed the group to the room.

The moment they were inside, Ava turned to everyone, a grim look on her face. "New developments?"

"Not really." Peter leaned against the wall, staring at the scroll in Hiro's gloved hand. "We've just been thinking and talking and we realized that we have a week left before this comes to pass."

"I know." Ava looked away, frowning. "Trust me, I know okay? It's like I've got an expiration date stamped on my ass."

"That's why we're all here." Kaito stepped forward, looking at Ava sternly. "We all need to touch the scroll again and tell what we saw. We need to all come together and figure out what exactly is going to pass in seven days and figure out HOW to stop it. We want to figure out how to save YOU."

Ava shrugged. "What if I'm not supposed to be saved, Kaito?"

"We want to figure out if that's true. We're GOING to figure out if it's true." Kaito pointed to the scroll. "Once again, we will all touch it. We will all tell what we saw and we will figure out what transpires in a week. We'll put the pieces together tonight and figure out where to go from there."

"You make it sound like a big puzzle or something." Ava sighed.

"In a way, that's what it is." Kaito nodded.

* * *

July 3, 2006

Ava frowned as she walked out of Eden's apartment, her cell phone ringing. Her frown deepened when she saw who was calling her. "Oh fuck me sideways." She muttered. Answering the phone, she rolled her eyes. "Yeah? What?"

"Now is that any way to talk to your superior?" She heard Thompson's voice purr through her phone.

Ava leaned against the wall of the hallway, grimacing. "Superior asshole, maybe. Yeah."

"You shouldn't piss me off, Avery." Thompson growled. "I've been calling you for a month now and you haven't been taking my calls."

"You should take that as a hint that I don't want to talk to your skeevy ass and stop calling me, you dick!" Ava straightened up, her mouth twisting angrily as her voice began to rise. Before Thompson could reply to her, she hung up her phone and stuffed it in her purse. "Ass." She muttered as she headed towards the door.

"Hey Melissa, wait!" Ava turned as Eden stepped out of her apartment. Before Ava could say anything else, her phone started ringing again. Ava closed her eyes for a moment as Eden stared at her. "You gonna get that?"

"It's Thompson, I'd rather not." Ava stared down at her purse as her cell phone rang a few more times before going to voicemail. "What did you want?"

Eden frowned. "I was wondering if you wanted to do anything tomorrow, you know something sisterly?" She cocked her head towards Suresh's apartment door. "I invited him to go to a parade tomorrow, show him how we celebrate Independence Day. Wanna come along?"

Ava shook her head slowly as her cell phone started to ring again. "No. I think I'm going to have other plans." She turned and headed down the stairs with Eden following her.

"Just kill him and be done with it." She hissed to Ava.

"I can't do that, not until-" She glanced at Eden and looked away "-we have a boss that's above Noah, above Thompson even. Noah doesn't know about him and neither should you, but I know him. I've met him and so has Thompson. He knows what Thompson's doing to me and he's asked me to lay low for now until he's done with some project. Once that's over and done with, Thompson's mine to kill and I will." Ava smiled cruelly. "I'll kill him, slowly and painfully." She closed her eyes, cursing as her cell phone started ringing again. "Damn him. Knowing him, he's on his way here and odds are, I'm going to be spending tomorrow eating his shit while he 'teaches' me a 'lesson'." She rubbed her eye, grimacing. "The last lesson he taught me ended with me wearing really heavy makeup for a few weeks once all of the swelling went down in my face."

"Ava." Eden leaned towards her, her voice changing. "Show him who's the real boss in this relationship. You're a strong woman. You don't have to put up with his shit. If you've got something against him, use it now. Don't let him hurt you anymore. Don't let him beat you or rape you or whatever the hell else it is he does to keep you in line. Give him hell."

Ava blinked for a moment and stared at Eden. "Did you just try to pull your shit with me?" Eden raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Mind control doesn't work with me."

"What about persuasion? I'm not using mind control as much as just simple persuasion." Eden smiled.

Ava rolled her eyes. "That doesn't work either." She laughed softly and shook her head, her smile fading as the cell phone started ringing again. "That does it!" She snatched up her cell phone and paced the foyer of the apartment building. "WHAT DO YOU WANT YOU PIECE OF SHIT?"

"Please, keep calling me names." Thompson snarled. "You should know that I'm on my way to New York to have a chat with you. You don't want me angry when I get there. Little girls that make me angry tend to get punished, you remember what happened the LAST time you pissed me off, don't you?"

Ava shuddered, feeling all of the rage that had been building up towards him for the last eight years finally give way. "Let me tell you something and let me tell you right now, you disgusting, sick, twisted, perverted motherfucker," as she paced the foyer, Eden looked away, grinning "if you confront me here, if you DARE try to 'punish' me and do to me what you did to me six months ago, I'll make you fucking regret it, do you hear me?"

Her eyes narrowed as she recognized the steely sound of Thompson's voice, imagining him clutching his phone in fury. "The only person who is going to regret anything is you, for talking to me like you just have, you little whore. My plane is landing in an hour. I know where your apartment is. When I get there, you'd better be there waiting and you'd better be seriously fucking contrite by the time I arrive or else what I did to you six months ago is going to seem like a light-hearted walk in the park. Don't forget what I told you then. I own you. I owned you then, I own you now and I'll own you until the day you die and I'll do what I want to you, WHEN I want to and there's nothing you will EVER say about it except 'thank you sir for letting me live through that with relatively few broken bones', do you understand me you little bitch?"

Eden's eyes widened as Ava pulled her shoulders back, her lips curling up into a dangerous smile. "Oh trust me Thompson, I understand very well what's going to happen when you get here. You on the other hand, have no fucking clue, but you'll find out soon enough." She hung up the phone as Eden stepped forward.

"Yeah, persuasion doesn't work on you one bit, does it?" Ava stared at Eden, blinking for a moment before staring back at her cell phone, her eyes suddenly widening in horror. "You just told him off but good."

"He's on a flight here." Ava's hand began to shake as she stuffed the cell phone back into her purse. "Oh shit. What the hell have I done? I was supposed to lie low, Eden."

Eden reached out, steadying Ava as she looked up into her eyes. "Do you have ANY ammunition against him?"

"I wasn't planning on using it against him yet." Ava frowned.

"Fine, don't then." Eden shrugged. "Let him beat you to a pulp again. Hell, maybe this time he really WILL break your nose. Try explaining THAT to anyone who tries to buy artwork from you. Try explaining those injuries to anyone who notices them." Ava closed her eyes as Eden shook her head. "Show him who's really boss, Ava."

Ava stared down at Eden, her eyes narrowing. "You trying to put the whammy on me again?"

"No," Eden answered truthfully "I'm just trying to make you see the light. You've been helpful with me these last couple of months, now it's my turn. Don't let him beat on you anymore. Got it?"

"I'll figure something out." Ava stepped away from Eden as she headed towards the door. "I've got an hour or two before he shows up to decide what I'll do."

"Need back-up?" Eden asked.

Ava turned to Eden, her green eyes darkening dangerously. "No. I think I'm going to handle him on my own." She turned and left the building as Eden smiled softly.

"Kick his ass, girl." She whispered to herself.

* * *

June 30, 2007

They sat around the room, their faces pale as Matt took his hands away from the scroll, shuddering. "I swore I'd never touch that damn thing again." He looked away, sickened, his expression mirroring the faces of his friends as they sat on the floor or leaned against the wall, grimacing.

Kaito cleared his throat. "First, let's discuss the first thing everyone saw. What can we agree on?"

"The eight of us were fighting while you, Mom, Bennet, Claude, Mohinder, Bob and Niki were hidden behind a wall of snow." Peter nodded.

Ava frowned. "Which one was Niki?"

"The one covered head to toe in body armor." Peter smiled sheepishly. "I told her that the only way I'd let her in on the battle, even as a support member was if she stayed armored like the eight of us that would be fighting Kane. I don't want her or the baby getting hurt."

"That makes two of us." Ava smiled softly.

"We were all fighting Kane as a group, but he was kicking our asses." Matt stared at the floor. "Ava fell first, slashed in the leg. Claude pulled her behind the bunker of snow to patch her up enough to get her back into the fight."

"I was frustrated because every time I blew Kane's head up, it just grew back." Ava closed her eyes. "Like some sort of sick video game that doesn't end. I get patched up and return to the fray."

"You attack Kane and he shrugs you off. As he comes to attack me, someone, Elle apparently, zaps him from behind. He turns and slashes her. Someone pulls her behind the bunker as another person attacks him when he comes for me again." Hiro sighed.

"It's Claire." Bennet rubbed his hands together nervously. "When he attacks her, her helmet comes off and when I see she's under attack, I go after him. He slashes me across the chest and I fall. That's when he returns to attacking Claire."

Peter nodded. "That's when he spews venom on her and is tackled by another person-"

"-Me." Matt looks around the room. "I tackle him and he tosses me to the side like a rag doll after slicing up my shoulder." Matt rubs his shoulder, shuddering.

"That's when I join Claude and apparently Niki in pulling the three of you behind the bunker." Ava turned to Bennet. "When Candice falls, Mohinder jumps over to pull her back while I tend to your wounds. Claude tends to Matt while Angela, Niki and Bob try to help Claire. Finally Bob and Niki scoop Claire up and carry her back here to the medical ward."

Matt closes his eyes. "While that's going on, I talk about how hard it is to fight Kane. We know Hiro wants to teleport him somewhere with Sylar and Peter, somewhere away from the battle-"

"-and while that's going on, Angela's trying to talk to me." Ava shook her head. "I kept pushing her hand away-" her eyes widen "-oh my God, she was trying to convince me to do something. She was trying to use her persuasion by touch to get me to do something and I wasn't going to let her. I finally hear you" she points to Matt "say that something has to be done to distract Kane long enough for Hiro, Peter and Sylar to grab him, and that's when-"

"-that's when you toss your helmet aside and offer yourself up as bait to Kane." Peter looks at Ava sadly. "And he takes the bait, slashing your throat and spewing venom on you before we tackle him and disappear."

"That's where it ended for me." Bennet looked around mournfully. "Anyone else see more than that?" Everyone shook their heads. "Okay. We've pieced together what happens during the battle and when. Now, where are Hiro, Peter and Sylar taking Kane?"

Kaito stared at the scroll, pulling on a pair of gloves before turning it over to stare at the Cyrillic writing on the back. "This says that 'three will remain to send evil to hell for all eternity, at the cost of the heart of darkness' love'."

"That's me. Sylar has a heart of darkness and he loves me. Going with Peter and Hiro to destroy Kane instead of helping me will kill me, costing him his love." She looked around, nodding. "If it means Kane's gone for good, I can die for that." She rubbed her eyes. "But WHERE are they taking him?"

Hiro's eyes widened for a moment. "We take him to hell?"

"Figuratively speaking, I think so." Kaito nodded.

Hiro looked around excited. "NO! Not figuratively. We take him to hell literally!" He stood up and started pacing the room as Peter and Matt's eyes widened, their faces breaking into smiles. "He can turn to mist, he cannot die, but what if-" he turned to Peter "-what if?"

Peter grinned. "I hear ya!" He nodded. "Perfect plan."

"Where?" Ava asked, her eyes sparkling with interest.

Peter and Hiro looked at each other, then turned to Ava. Hiro clapped his hands together. "MORDOR! We take him to Mordor!"

"What? Where?" Ava looked around the room, frowning as Bennet, Kaito and Matt grinned.

"It's a reference to 'The Lord of the Rings'." Bennet smiled.

"YES!" Hiro nodded. "Like the One Ring, we take him to a mountain of fire-"

"-a volcano-" Peter interjected.

"-and like with the One Ring, we toss him in! He regenerates, he regenerates in fire and dies again and again and again! He'll never escape!" Hiro nodded happily. "He's in Hell!"

"But he can turn to mist." Ava shook her head. "If you try to toss him in, he'll just evaporate, join with the volcanic steam, float away and reconstitute himself away from the volcano."

Peter shook his head. "Not if Sylar freezes him as we teleport."

"YES!" Hiro beamed. "He freezes Kane and then we toss him into the lava! BOOM! He goes from freezing to burning for eternity!"

"Sounds like a plan." Bennet smiled.

"Okay, so we know how the battle goes down and how to destroy Kane." Ava sighed. "What's the next question?"

"What's Mom going to try and get you to do?" Peter asked.

"Hell if I know." Ava shook her head.

"Whatever it is, don't take the offer." Peter's eyes narrowed. "I love my mother, but I know she's not trustworthy. Take whatever she promises in exchange for whatever she tries to convince you to do with a grain of salt, got it?" Ava nodded.

"And keep your damn helmet on, whatever you do." Bennet pointed to her. "If you want to be bait, be bait, but keep the helmet on! He won't be able to get the venom on you as easily AND if he slashes at you, he may avoid your throat."

"Got it." Ava looked around at her friends. "Anything else?"

Kaito paced the floor, frowning. "We'll need more supplies. More body armor has recently arrived for Elle and Bob. Given the injuries that our team may be facing, I think we'll need more than two doctors here." Kaito nodded. "I'll send for at least eight fully staffed medical teams to be brought in. Our medical ward here can handle that. That way, even if we're all attacked and injured, each med team will only have two patients to care for at the most. That can be handled, I think."

"And make sure we have more than one set of life-support systems." Bennet stared at the floor, remembering the painting of Ava on a respirator he'd seen in Linderman's hiding place at the Corinthian. "Just in case."

"Done." Kaito looked around at everyone. "I think that covers it, yes?"

"As well as we CAN cover it for now." Ava slowly stood up as everyone else joined her in heading towards the door.

"I'll research volcanoes." Hiro smiled. "Find just the right place for Kane to end his days."

"Good." Peter turned to Ava as she reached for the door. "I'm serious about my mother. Whatever deal she tries to make with you, don't take it, okay?"

"Okay." She nodded. "If you don't mind, I have a week left. I want to spend as much time as I can with my guy."

"I understand." Peter watched as she opened the door and headed to her quarters down the hall. _I just hope we can find a way to give her more than just a week. _He thought to himself.

* * *

July 3, 2006

Ava arrived at her apartment, her hands shaking as she walked inside. Taking a deep breath, she looked around, suddenly realizing what she needed to do. She quickly walked over to a file cabinet and pulled out a handful of DVD's, grimacing as she remembered its contents. She turned to her computer and quickly began to burn copies of them, glancing at her watch nervously as she made three copies of each disc. As soon as she had finished, she placed each set into a separate mailing envelope and wrote addresses down on two of them, inserting a quick note into each envelope. Looking around, she quickly ran down to the lobby of her apartment building and quickly placed each envelope in the mail before dashing back up to her apartment. Glancing at her watch again, she grabbed another set of the copies and placed them in her DVD player, mentally patting herself on the back for getting one that could hold multiple DVD's at a time. She cued them to play as she walked to her room, changing into a pair of jeans and a tank top before pulling her hair back into a ponytail. She tucked the final set of DVD's, the originals into another envelope and looked around her apartment, searching for a good hiding place. She finally rolled her eyes and walked to the kitchen, placing them in the oven. "Gotta remember to take those out before I cook anything." She mentally reminded herself. "If I live long enough to ever cook anything again."

Her head snapped around as she heard the doorbell ring before hearing an insistent pounding on the door. Pulling her shoulders back, she mentally steeled herself for what she was about to do. "This country's celebrating its independence tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be doing the same." She whispered to herself as she walked to the door and opened it, her eyes narrowing as she glared at Thompson. "I told you not to come here."

"And I told you to prepare for pain after the way you spoke to me." Thompson shoved his way into the apartment. The moment he entered it, Ava closed the door and turned in time to be knocked down by the back of Thompson's hand. As she hit the floor, he stood over her, tilting his neck one way, then the other as he smiled with satisfaction to hear the joints crackle. "You shouldn't have talked to me that way. You're going to pay for that." He drew his foot back and kicked out at her, smirking as she rolled away from his foot and quickly leapt to her feet. "Oh, do you want to fight me?"

Ava smirked and shook her head. "No. I want to kill you."

"That's not going to happen." Thompson laughed softly. "You're the one who's going to die today."

"I don't think so." Ava circled past him and ducked as he took a swing at her. She tackled him and shoved him against a wall. She backed away from him, eyeing the television remote as he caught his breath.

"You shouldn't have done that." Thompson shook his head as he stepped towards her. "You're going to pay for that." Just as he started for her, Ava grabbed the remote and turned on the television. Thompson froze in place as his voice filled the room.

"_You think you're going to tell Linderman about ME? Don't you remember the evidence I've got on your old pal Bennet?"_

"_The evidence you fabricated." Ava gasped._

"_Yeah, but you can't prove it, can you?" Thompson sneered. "As far as anyone will know, Noah Bennet helped your buddy and his old partner Claude hide people like you. HE'LL be the one who dies if you open that glory hole you call a mouth and after he's dead, I'll kill Sandra and Lyle, slowly and painfully while they curse your name." _

Thompson stared at the television screen, his mouth hanging open as he watched himself strangle Ava.

"_And then poor little Claire will be left all alone. I'll let you live. I'll let you live to watch what I do to Claire. I'll make what I do to you in here look like a vacation compared to what I'll do to her and every time I do it, I'll remind her that it's all because you couldn't take what was coming to you and keep your fucking mouth shut!"_

Thompson whirled around on Ava. "You taped me?" Ava nodded slowly.

"_You're going to be taught a little lesson today about what happens to bitches who threaten me."_

Thompson stared at the screen again as he watched himself begin to rape Ava while he strangled her into unconsciousness.

"_You're going to learn not to PISS ME OFF!"_

He turned back to Ava, sneering. "You little bitch."

As he stepped towards her, Ava shook her head. "Don't ever call me that again." He stopped, his eyes narrowing. "Not only did I tape you, you little shit, but I've made copies, LOTS of copies. I just mailed ONE of those copies to your wife." As Thompson's eyes widened in horror, Ava giggled softly. "I wonder what she'll say when she sees them. You see, I've been taping your little visits to my home for some time now. I've got HOURS of footage of you raping me, beating me, tying me up, threatening me, threatening the Bennet family, need I continue?"

"You whore." Thompson growled.

"Call me that again, or any OTHER name, and I'll make sure copies are sent to every household in America by the time I'm done. Hell, I'll find a way to stream these films on the internet so every person in the world 

can see you. Then everywhere you go, people will stop you and say 'hey, aren't you that short-dicked asshole who kept beating on that poor girl and raping her? I saw it on the internet'-"

"-You don't have the balls, bitch." Thompson shook his head.

"You need to go home and try to get those discs before your wife does, don't you think?" Ava smirked.

"I think I can take a moment or two to kill you first." Thompson took another step towards her and stopped as Ava laughed. "What?"

"Go ahead! Kill me!" Ava crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared Thompson down. "I have another copy of these discs in a safe deposit box somewhere in this country and another copy in a safe deposit box in South America. Don't bother looking for them, they're under an assumed name. There's a letter being held by an attorney somewhere in this world directing him to give the keys to those boxes to Mr. Linderman in the event of MY death, or the deaths of any member of the Bennet family, including Mr. Muggles. If ANY of us are harmed, Linderman will get those discs and he'll see you for the monster you are. How long do you think you'll live after that?"

"You're lying." Thompson stared warily at Ava as she raised an eyebrow, shrugging. "You're lying."

"Wanna kill me and find out?" She sneered. "I mailed those discs to your wife just a little while ago and had them sent overnight. You might want to see if you can catch a flight back to Texas before they arrive at your 'happy' home."

"Fine." Thompson stepped back, shaking his head. "This isn't over."

"Yes. It IS over." Ava walked towards him, glaring. "You will never touch me again. You will never threaten me again. You will NEVER come near me or mine again, and by mine I mean Noah Bennet and his family. If you do, you'll spend the rest of your very short life looking over your shoulder for Linderman's assassins."

Thompson nodded, his eyes narrowing. "You think you've won, but you haven't." He laughed softly. "I'll get something else on you and your pal Noah and when I do, nothing you give Linderman will stop him from ordering your deaths."

"The mail got picked up just a while ago. Overnight, remember?"

"Fuck you." Thompson headed towards the door.

"Never again, thank you." As the door slammed, Ava collapsed on the couch, her legs shaking. She took a shuddering breath as she turned off the television and closed her eyes. Suddenly her eyes flew open and she bolted for her bathroom, vomiting as soon as she reached the toilet. Trembling, she began to laugh and cry. "Oh God. Please let this have worked." She whispered to herself. "Please tell me that I'm free of him at last."

* * *

June 30, 2007

Sylar looked up as Ava entered their room and sat up, smiling at her. "Got a headache?"

Ava shook her head as she walked towards him, pulling off her clothes. "No. No headache." She reached the bed and slid under the covers as Sylar pulled her to him. She stroked his cheek, and smiled softly, her heart breaking as she realized she only had a week left to be with him. "I want you."

"Good. You have me." They kissed as he rolled on top of her and began to make love.


	39. Chapter 39: Why We Fight

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Why We Fight

July 1, 2007

"WHOOO! HOT DAMN!"

Sylar grimaced as he heard Matt cheering as he ran down the hall. "What the hell? It's two in the morning."

"I'M GONNA BE A FATHER!"

"Big whoop." Sylar groaned as he shoved his head under a pillow, Ava stirring sleepily beside him. "Jan's been pregnant for how long? He's finally figuring out that he's gonna be a dad, huh? Nothing gets past him, does it?"

Ava bolted upright in the bed. "Oh awesome!" Sylar lifted his head up blearily as Ava jumped out of bed and dressed quickly before running out of her room. She spotted Matt as he ran up and down the hallway excitedly, with Noah and Peter joining him. "Is she in labor?"

Matt turned and spotted Ava. He ran to her and picked her up, spinning her around before he set her back on the ground. "The Haitian called ten minutes ago. Her water broke and she's on her way to a nearby hospital."

Ava stared at him as he paced the hallway excitedly. "So? What are you waiting for?" She turned to Peter. "Aren't you going to go ahead and teleport him there?"

Peter laughed. "Hiro and I are going to do it. I'm waiting for him to get up now. We're waiting for a call back to let us know they've arrived at the hospital first. We don't want to show up before she gets there, it'll look a little weird."

"Oh, right." Ava turned and gave Matt a hug. "Good luck with the baby, Pal!"

Matt grinned and hugged her back. "Thanks." He turned to Peter and Noah, his smile widening. "I'm gonna be a daddy!"

"Welcome to the Daddy Club!" Noah clapped him on the back and nodded. "It's a hell of a roller coaster ride, I hope you're ready for it."

"I've already bought a ticket to it myself." Peter grinned. He turned to Ava, his smile fading.

Ava stared at him. "What?" She shrugged. "I don't have a penis, I'm not a member of the Daddy Club." She gave Matt a quick peck on the cheek before staring again at the sad expressions on her friends' faces. "Will you guys stop looking at me like that? I'm not planning on joining the Mommy Club any time soon either, regardless of what happens next week." Turning back to Matt, she sighed. "Good luck and congratulations. I'm going back to bed." She turned and walked back to her room, rolling her eyes as she climbed back into bed with Sylar. "You heard?"

"Everyone heard, Matt's gonna be a daddy." Sylar mumbled.

"I mean did you hear the rest of it, you big tree? Janice is in labor, that's what Matt was going on about."

"Really?" Sylar sat up for a moment and nodded. "Well, that explains it, then." He sighed and lay back down beside Ava, snuggling beside her. "That's pretty cool, huh?"

Ava nodded as she turned in his arms, kissing him. "That's very cool indeed."

* * *

July 7, 2006

Ava stepped out of her apartment, grimacing at the heat as she made her way towards the subway system. She fanned herself as she rode the train into Manhattan, unaware of the two sets of eyes that guarded her, one seen, one unseen as she stepped off of the train and climbed the steps into the stifling heat of the day to head to work at Simone's SoHo gallery.

Gabriel Gray blushed with embarrassment as he followed her from her apartment, to the subway to the gallery, as he had every morning whenever he could for the last few weeks. He didn't understand WHY he was so enamored with her, but he couldn't stay away. She was becoming an obsession to him, one that seemed to consume him even more than the need to continue adding to his collection of powers. At night, he'd dream about her, dream about the kiss she'd given him that first night he'd met her and helped her into her sister's apartment after she'd been drinking. He'd dream about the way her lips felt on his, the way her body felt against him, only in his dreams, she wasn't drunk and their night didn't end with her passed out in his arms.

Pushing his glasses up his nose, he hovered outside of the gallery, watching it from across the street with a soft smile on his face. He watched as she greeted customers with Simone, her boss and watched as she led them through the gallery, showing them the artwork that was on sale. His smile faltered as he noticed how edgy she seemed, and how her smile never touched her eyes. He noticed the way she'd glance out of the window, her mouth skewed to the side as she chewed the inside of her cheek.

Knowing her routine, he checked his watch before hailing a cab, knowing that soon it would be lunch time. He knew where she liked to spend her lunch hour and was amused at the whimsy of it. Every day at noon she'd hail a taxi to Central Park, where for an hour, she'd eat a bagged lunch near the Alice in Wonderland sculptures. Sometimes he thought he saw her lips move, almost as if she was talking to someone. After eating, she'd stroll through the park alone. Occasionally when she'd pass under trees or walk under a bridge, he'd lose her, almost as if she'd disappeared, only to reappear a moment later when he'd looked away.

As he stepped out of the cab and carefully made his way through the park, he alternated between mentally encouraging and berating himself.

_Today. I'll ask her out today. I'll bump into her and be all "funny to run into you here, small world isn't it?" I'll mention dropping off a timepiece for a wealthy customer over on Central Park West, make her think that I'm not a total loser who sits in an empty shop every day without hardly any customers. I'll ask her out for coffee, I'll do it today._

_You'll never do it. You'll never ask her out and even if you did grow the balls to do it instead of following her around like a twisted stalker or a sick little puppy dog begging for love, she'd never say "yes" to going out with you in a million years. You know WHY she'll never go out with you? Because you're a loser. You're a mama's boy who can't let go of his daddy's business and who never say's 'boo' to anyone and she can see straight through you. The only chance you could have had with her was when she was unconscious. Stop chasing her around and get back to a goal that you CAN achieve: power._

Gabriel frowned as he passed by the Alice in Wonderland statues, his hands jammed in his pockets. _Maybe I'll wait until tomorrow to ask her out._ He thought to himself as he trudged on. _I'll just watch her a little longer today. I'll watch her have lunch and then I'll go back to my shop. _He nodded to himself as he checked his watch and found a place behind some trees to wait for her.

An hour later, he saw 'Melissa' walking down the path towards the statues. He frowned again as he noticed the nervous look on her face. He began to step out of the trees to approach her when he spotted another man walking towards her, a man with a craggy face and graying hair, quickly gaining on her. Something in the man's eyes made Gabriel scared for her. Before he could step out and warn her, the man grabbed her arm and spun her around, his eyes boring angrily into hers.

Ava had spent the morning working at the gallery, a feeling of uneasiness creeping over her even more today than it had in the days since she'd sent Thompson away with a warning to never come near her again. She felt as if she were being watched and followed. Every day since telling Claude to stay away from her before fighting Thompson off and blackmailing him, she'd gone to the Alice in Wonderland statues in the hopes that Claude would appear and every day, he'd never show. She'd eat her lunch in silence, occasionally trying to strike up a conversation in the hopes that Claude was there, protecting her as he'd sworn he'd do, trying to get him to speak to her, but she never got a reply to the questions she asked the wind. As she walked towards the statue today, the feeling of uneasiness grew almost unbearable and halfway down the path, she realized why. She sensed him as he began to walk briskly towards her. It was Thompson and she could sense the fury that was coming off of him in waves. Steeling herself for another confrontation, she wasn't surprised when he reached out and grabbed her arm, spinning her around to meet him. "Hello Thompson." She said, trying to keep her voice calm.

"I should fucking kill you where you stand, you little whore."

Ava raised an eyebrow, her heart pounding with terror at the murderous look in his eyes. "I take it you didn't make it home before the DVD arrived?"

"My flight was delayed. Apparently, nasty weather kept the company jet from landing in Austin for a few hours. We finally landed in Dallas and I had to rent a car and haul ass home to try and beat that overnight delivery. I walked in the house just as she was putting it in the player. She saw about five minutes of me fucking you."

"Really?" Ava smirked. "Oh, so she caught one of the warm-up acts, huh? She didn't get to see you beating the shit out of me while threatening to rape Claire Bennet? Which part did she see, you forcing me to suck that tiny dick a couple of years ago, the part where you forced yourself on me on my couch last summer, or the part from last fall when you tied me to my bed, dressed as a schoolgirl and basically screwed me until you were too tired to go any longer?"

"She saw enough, that's all I'm going to say." Thompson shook his head. "I had to tell her that we'd had an affair a few years ago. I told her that it was a 'Fatal Attraction' thing-"

"-right movie, but you reversed it. Good thing I don't have a bunny for you to boil-"

"-and that you seduced me and then became angry when I refused to leave her for you and then fired you for laying out of work. She bought it, thank God. After a few nights on the couch and a few diamonds thrown her way, she finally forgave me after I also agreed to take her to Cancun for our anniversary next month."

"Of course she bought it, she's married to you, isn't she? I figured she probably wasn't standing in line when God gave out brains." Ava looked at him with disgust. "Or taste, for that matter. If she had any sense, she would have seen how I was repulsed every time you touched me and she would have seen me trying not to puke every time you tried to kiss me. Then again, maybe she figures EVERY woman makes that face in bed with you. Maybe thinks you're SUPPOSED to make an 'EW!' face instead of an 'O' face with you."

"You're going to pay for sending that DVD to my wife-"

"-No, I'm not." Ava shook her head, her eyes glittering angrily. "YOU'RE going to pay for threatening me, threatening Claude, Noah and his family. You fucked up by coming here today. You should have walked away when I first threatened you with those little home movies."

"Yeah right, because you've sent other copies out." Thompson laughed softly, his fingers digging into her arms.

"As a matter of fact, I did. After you left my apartment the other day, I had a feeling that you wouldn't let this go. I knew you'd be back and that you'd try and threaten me again, so I sent a copy to Mr. Linderman and Mr. Nakamura."

"You're lying." Thompson shook his head as he regarded her doubtfully. "If you had, I'd be dead already."

"You're right. You probably would be dead already, if Mr. Linderman didn't need your help for some project he's working on." As Thompson let her go, his face registering shock, Ava nodded. "See, Linderman's known about your little obsession with me for some time now. He's known about the beatings and the rapes for a few years now."

"You're lying."

"Who do you think put the high-tech cameras in my apartment in the first place? The cameras that were powerful enough to pick up every hair on your flat ass? Linderman's people put those in. I had other cameras that also got some very interesting footage, but the cameras that Linderman's people installed REALLY got some lovely shots, along with the microphones they put throughout my apartment."

"If he'd done all of that-"

"-He needs you for a project." Ava laughed softly. "Something tells me that you might want to make sure you do a memorable job with it, your life may depend on it." She grinned as Thompson slowly let go of her. "And this little tantrum you're pulling here? Linderman's going to hear about THAT too."

Thompson grabbed her again, shaking her. "I swear to fucking God, if you send me up the river-"

"-You'll what, KILL ME?" She jerked herself loose from him. "Go ahead and try it!" She stepped back and twitched her fingers at him. "Come on. Let's see who can kill the other first. You could reach for your gun, but you and I both know that my psionic bullets can kill you faster than your gun's bullets can kill me. The only thing stopping me is that Mr. Linderman has asked me to let bygones be bygones with you so that you can do this silly project for him, but if you continue to push me, I won't give shit-all what happens to me after you're dead. I'll take my golden handshake with a smile on my face and a song in my heart." She cocked her head to the side, shrugging. "If Linderman even GIVES me a golden handshake for killing you, that is. After all, I AM his best assassin and I would have killed you in self-defense after you attacked me in an open park. There's plenty of footage and documentation to show that you're quite obsessed with me and that you have a tendency toward violence around me. If I killed you, they'd probably let me go with a slap on the wrist, figuring that you tried to kill me and that you had it coming. I have a feeling that you'd be much easier to replace than I would be in the long run. So go ahead and try to kill me. I already have a million and one reasons to kill YOU as it is, let's break that camel's back, shall we?"

Thompson backed away from her, his face twisting with rage and hatred. "You haven't seen the last of me, you little fucking whore."

Ava nodded, her eyes sparkling dangerously. "And you haven't seen the last of me, either." She blew him a kiss before stepping past him, heading away from the statues and back towards the edge of the park as Thompson watched her angrily.

Gabriel watched them argue, too far away to hear the words they said. He started to step forward again to offer assistance when he saw the man let go of her and back away, his face filled with terror and hate. Finally, 'Melissa' stepped past him, her head held high as she strolled away from them both, back towards the street to return to the gallery. His eyes widened as he saw the man reach into his coat pocket, and saw the glimmer of a gun. He started to run past the trees he was standing behind, his mouth open to shout a warning to 'Melissa' and stopped, shocked as he stepped out of the trees to see that the man had disappeared. Looking around, he glanced back over to 'Melissa' and noticed that she had rounded a corner in the path, disappearing as well. Looking around, Gabriel rubbed his eyes and shook his head. "What the fuck just happened?" He asked himself as he turned the other way and headed back to the other side of the park, deciding to grab a subway and return to Queens. His eyes widened for a moment as he felt something unseen brush past him as he walked away, then shrugged it off as he left the park. _Stupid man._ He thought to himself. _You think you're so big, so tough, but the first chance you got to prove yourself a hero, the first chance you got to use your powers to save someone, you choked. You could have TK'ed that gun, you could have shoved him away from her yourself and then beat him down without raising a finger. You could have been her hero and instead, you cowered behind the trees like a wuss. You don't deserve her._

Every day since Ava had sworn to keep away from Claude, he continued to follow her everywhere. He'd follow her to her apartment at night and make his way to the roof to sleep, waking with the dawn to climb back to the street to silently and invisibly escort her to the gallery. He'd accompany her to the park every day, his heart bleeding when she'd start to speak to him, and would have to bite down on his tongue to keep from answering her, wanting to keep her safe, but knowing that if they started to speak to one another and were caught by Thompson's men, she'd be punished for collaborating with him. Instead, he protected her in secret, never letting her leave her home or her job without him a few steps behind her, making sure that no one could harm her.

The moment he realized Thompson was heading towards her, he thought about grabbing him, making them both invisible and killing him outright, until he saw the resolute look on her face. He stood aside and let her attack him with her words, finally being the one who was threatening, instead of being the threatened. His heart swelled with pride when she forced him to back down and finally walked away, her shoulders back and her head high until he spotted Thompson reaching into his jacket. He'd acted quickly, as soon as he saw the gun, quickly diving on Thompson, making them both invisible as he quickly pulled the gun from his hand. "You'll not kill her." He whispered as he began to pistol-whip the man, quickly knocking him unconscious before standing and dragging Thompson into the bushes, past the young man with glasses that seemed to visit the park almost as much as he and Ava did these days. He crouched beside Thompson and began to slap him to bring him around. The moment his eyes opened, Claude nodded. "Thought you'd put a bullet in her back, did you?"

"You rotten little son of a bitch. I'll destroy you for this."

"Oh?" Claude held out Thompson's gun. "Big talk from a little man without a gun, eh?" He cocked the hammer, pointing the gun at Thompson's face. "I should pull this trigger right now and end it all. I'd do it too if I didn't think Ava'd have my guts for garters afterwards. I've dreamed of killing you for what you've done to her-"

"-Pissed that I got to fuck her first?" Thompson smirked. "Or did I? Why Claude, old boy, did YOU tap that ass before it was legal?"

"I've never shagged her and I never will. She's like a daughter to me and I'm like a father to her. Along with Noah, I'm the only father she's got left now, for the most part." Claude's eyes bored into Thompson's. "And I should take vengeance like a father whose little girl has been wronged, I really should."

"Then do it." Thompson growled. "Pull that trigger and kill me. Go ahead and do it. Once you do, prepare to run far and wide because The Company will be chasing you even more than they have before. Not even invisibility will keep you safe." He laughed as Claude lowered the gun. "You don't have the balls. I knew it."

"Oh, I have them. Thing is, a bullet in the face is too bloody good for the likes of you. You should suffer for what you've done and what you've threatened to do and I have a feeling that one day, Ava will be the one who makes you suffer. She'll kill you one day and she won't let you die easily." Claude grinned as Thompson turned pale. "You'll be her masterpiece when she's done with you. That's why I'm not going to kill you today." Claude started to stand and then crouched back down over Thompson. "But I will give you this." He smashed the butt of the gun into Thompson's nose, smiling as the bridge of his nose crunched and shattered. Thompson shrieked in pain as Claude nodded. "That's for me. Ava'll give you what's coming to you for her soon enough." He pocketed the gun and stood, preparing to leave.

Thompson clutched his nose as blood gushed from it and began to scream at Claude as he walked away, disappearing as he did so. "I'm not done with her yet, Claude! DO YOU HEAR ME! SHE'LL PAY FOR THIS AND FOR EVERYTHING BOTH OF YOU HAVE DONE TO ME! I'M NOT DONE WITH HER!"

* * *

July 1, 2007

Claude watched Ava as she and Sylar ran side-by-side on the treadmills in the gym. "For shit's sake! It's Sunday!"

"Yeah? And?" Ava asked as she ran.

"What happened to you and your whiny little boyfriend there wanting Sundays off?"

Ava shrugged as she continued to run. "I just have a feeling that Kane's coming soon. I want to get in as much training as possible, not just for myself, but for Sylar here as well."

Claude stared at Sylar incredulously. "And you're going along with this why?"

Sylar shook his head. "She promised to do some incredibly kinky things if I agreed to work out on our day off." He grimaced. "Of course, considering the workout she's putting me through right now, I don't think I'm going to have the energy to do anything else." He stopped the treadmill, panting. "Seriously Honey, can we please stop now?"

Ava rolled her eyes. "YOU can, but I'm going to keep going, thank you." She pushed a button on the treadmill and began to run faster.

"She's like a machine." Sylar wheezed as he stepped past Claude, grabbing a towel. The three of them turned towards the door as Hiro burst through it, whooping.

"MATTHEW JAMES PARKMAN JR!" Hiro yelled. "MATTHEW JAMES PARKMAN JR. HAS ENTERED THE WORLD!"

"That's awesome!" Ava turned off the treadmill and stopped running, beaming as Hiro nodded excitedly.

"That was quick. Matt left here just a few hours ago." Sylar shrugged.

Hiro nodded excitedly as he began to babble in broken English. "When we got to hospital, Janice already pushing! Matt made it just in time! She pushed and baby popped out quickly!" He took a deep breath, grinning as he calmed down a bit, his English improving as he continued to speak. "I saw him! I saw the baby! He's very beautiful-"

"-Must look like Jan then." Sylar quipped.

"That's what Matt said!" Hiro laughed. "He said the baby was too handsome to take after him. The baby was screaming quite loudly too, he's a very loud little boy."

"THAT he gets from Matt." Sylar nodded.

"Matt wants everyone to come see the baby. He's a very proud Papa!"

"He should be." Ava smiled. "Are you about to go back to him?"

"Yes!" Hiro nodded as he smiled. "Peter is still with him and Niki wants to see the baby, so I am bringing her."

"Good. Tell Matt that I'm going to grab a shower and that I'll be there as soon as I can." Ava walked over to Hiro. "Give Jan and Matt each one of these," she hugged him tightly twice "and give each of them one of these." She kissed him twice on the cheek.

Hiro ducked his head and blushed. "I will be back soon." He turned and walked out of the room in a daze as Sylar sighed.

"So, you're going to see the baby, huh?"

"Yeah." Ava nodded. "I'm going to go and see the baby."

"Well, I guess my fun reward is going to have to wait."

"Yeah, it is." Ava turned to Sylar and kissed him softly.

Sylar groaned. "Can't you wait to see him later? He's not going anywhere. You can see him after we fight Kane, since you seem to think he's going to be here soon. We'll have fun now, fight Kane soon and see little Matt Jr. later."

Ava's smile faltered for a moment as she shook her head. "I'd like to see him now, thanks." She turned and quickly walked out of the room, heading for her quarters as Claude frowned.

"Wonder what's gotten into HER?" He mused.

Ava quickly climbed into the shower and rinsed off the sweat from her workout. As soon as she was done, she stepped into her room and got dressed. As she pulled the last of her clothes on, she looked up as Sylar entered the room. "That's great about Matt, huh?"

"Yeah, it is." Sylar nodded as he walked towards the bathroom. He stopped and turned towards her, biting his bottom lip. "Can we talk?"

"Sure." Ava leaned back on her elbows, intrigued as Sylar twisted his hands nervously. "What's going on with you? You seem a little freaked out."

"I AM a little freaked out, but I want to go ahead and say it anyway." Sylar shrugged and laughed nervously. "When all of this is over and Kane's defeated, we're still going to be together, right? We've decided that, haven't we?"

Ava kept her smile plastered on her face as she nodded. "Of course we are. I don't want to leave you. I love you."

"I love you too." Sylar leaned against the wall. "I've been thinking about stuff lately, since San Antonio mainly and I just want to go ahead and put this out on the table. You and I, we don't make sense. You're an assassin for some shadowy agency and I'm a serial killer, or at least I was." He grinned awkwardly. "I'd like to consider myself reformed now. The thing is, as much as we DON'T make sense, at the same time we do, you know?"

"I know." Ava nodded again.

"I've been in love with you for over a year now. Truth be told, I fell in love with you when you were Melissa McCain. I followed you everywhere, you just didn't know it. I loved your strength. You could see that through any persona you created. You had this strength to you, but you also had this sadness and vulnerability that touched me. I loved you then as Melissa and I love you even more now as Ava. I want to stay together, forever. I think I want to get married."

Ava smiled at him, her heart breaking at the excited, nervous look on his face. She took a deep breath, tears sparkling in her eyes. "I want to get married too."

Sylar's face broke into a huge, relieved yet happy grin. "You do?"

"Yeah." Ava nodded softly. "When all of this is over, I want to get married to you."

"This isn't a proposal." Sylar shook his head as he beamed. "I'll propose soon, I'll do it right, I swear."

"Okay." Ava laughed quietly. "When you decide to do it though, don't worry about being turned down."

"I won't." Sylar sighed happily. "I never thought I'd want to get married, but after being with you-"

"-I know. I feel the same way."

"This is great." Sylar walked over to her and kissed her passionately, hugging her to him. "And kids, what do you think about kids?"

Ava tried not to cry as she hugged him back. "I want a house filled with them." She whispered.

"Me too." Sylar let her go as he turned to head to the bathroom. He stopped and turned back to her. "We're both crazy, you know that? Who'd have known this time last year that we'd go through hell and end up here, huh?"

"I never would have guessed it." Ava watched as Sylar walked into the bathroom. She waited for the shower to start before she burst into tears and stood, running out of her room. She went to Noah's room first, nodding for him to join her before she headed towards Kaito's room.

"What's wrong?" Noah asked.

"I need to talk to you and Kaito in the soundproof room and I need to do it now." Ava looked at Noah miserably. "You just got back from Tahiti?"

Noah nodded. "I came to pick up Claire. Sandra wanted to see her at the hospital and Claire's been wanting to see Sandra and Lyle along with the baby." He grabbed Ava's arm, looking at her as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Now YOU tell ME, what's wrong?"

"In a minute." She nodded for Kaito to join them as she walked with them towards the soundproof room. Taking a deep breath, she struggled to compose herself. "He wants to get married." She whispered.

"Okay." Noah frowned. "I would have thought that would be a good thing."

"It is." Ava leaned against the wall. "And it isn't. He wants to propose to me after the battle. He wants to get married and have children and live happily ever after." She closed her eyes. "I want him to have that, I do. He just doesn't know that he's not going to get it with me."

"Ava, I'm sorry." Noah sighed.

"I've accepted that in all probability that I'm going to die in that battle, but it's times like this when I really, really HATE it!" Ava opened her eyes, as Noah looked away, unable to bear the pain he saw reflected in them. "Since I was seventeen, I have accepted the fact that, given my powers and my line of work, that marriage and children were not going to be in the cards for me and I was fine with it. What kind of mother would I be anyway, right? I'm an assassin, for crying out loud! Even if I weren't that, I know that powers are genetic and I've always felt that passing the potential to destroy like I have onto an innocent child just isn't right. I know that every power out there can be used for good as well as evil, but let's face it. With my power, there's only one use for it, and that's to cause the deaths of others. I didn't want to put that onto a child if I had to. I told myself that it was the right thing. I told myself that I wasn't mommy material, marriage material, hell I figured I wasn't even good girlfriend material. Then, I met Sylar. When he was Aaron, I fell in love with him and when he got his memory back and continued to love me, continued to fight his darker instincts to love me, I began to love him even more. The idea of us together is crazy and insane. He's a serial killer and I'm an assassin, but at the same time, it makes sense. Who else would be crazy enough to have the other? We've both accepted what the other is and I know this sounds so weird, but in a way, we've softened each other. He's learned to be a team player, I've learned to open my heart and we've both learned to value human life much more than we ever did. He wants marriage and he wants children with me and it breaks my heart that I can't give it to him! If I could, I'd do it, but I can't get pregnant and have a child in a week, not even a MOUSE can carry a baby in a week!" She laughed bitterly. "It breaks my heart to know that now that I've finally decided to be a human being in this world and live as one with some semblance of a normal life, instead of living in the shadows as a killer, I'm going to lose everything."

"Ava-" Noah started to speak again. He looked away as she held up her hand to silence him.

"Like I've said though, I've accepted the fact that in all probability, I have a week left, nothing more." She turned to Kaito. "But I don't want Sylar to die too. Angela convened the rest of your little ancient Justice League and made them vote to put Sylar to death after the battle. If I have to die, I'll do it. I'll offer myself up as a sacrificial lamb if it means that I can save the lives of others with powers like me. I'll give my life, as long as you promise to save Sylar's in the end."

"Ava-" Kaito began to speak.

"-If you can't promise me that you'll take Sylar away, that you'll give him a new life after I'm gone, I'm leaving with him tonight. I'll run with him. I know I'll be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life either for The Company's revenge or for Kane, but I'll do it. I'll give my life, but I won't let Sylar die too. I'll run with him, change our names, marry him and have children on the run, but at least I'll be with HIM. He's changed, Kaito-"

"-He's already said that if the drawing he created comes true, if you are killed in the battle, that he'll attack us all." Kaito whispered.

"I know." Ava nodded. "And I know how to stop him. I have a plan. I have a plan to stop him from harming all of you in the event of my death. All I want from you is a promise that you'll listen to my plan and implement it to save him when I'm gone. Promise me you'll do that or I'm leaving now and you know damn well that no one can stop me."

Kaito nodded slowly. "Whatever you have planned, I'll implement it. I promise to you now, I swear on my son's life and on the graves and honors of my daughter and wife that I'll do everything within my power to save Sylar's life after the battle and" Kaito fought tears "after you are killed."

"Thank you." Ava sighed with relief. "I was bluffing about running."

Kaito laughed, choking back tears. "I know. You'd never leave Noah and Claude."

Ava looked away. "I'd never leave any of you. You're the only family I have. That's why I know you'll protect Sylar when I'm gone."

Kaito nodded. "What is the plan?"

* * *

Later, Ava arrived at the hospital via Peter with Noah, Claire and Sylar in tow. She smiled at Noah, a weight lifted from her chest as she watched him walk with Claire over to a waiting Sandra and Lyle. She waiting for a moment, smiling to see the family's reunion before turning and following Peter and Sylar towards Janice's room.

Matt greeted them at the door, hugging Ava fiercely before turning to Sylar and shaking his hand. "Thanks for coming, both of you."

"Hey Aaron." Jan said softly from her bed as she slowly sat up, grimacing. "Wait, it's not Aaron though, is it?"

Sylar shrugged. "It's Sylar, actually, but if you want to call me Aaron, that's fine too."

Jan nodded sleepily as Ava took her hand, squeezing it before she kissed her cheek. "Congratulations, Mom."

"Thanks." Jan grinned. "I was surprised how quickly he arrived. I figured I'd be pushing for hours, but little Matt practically flew out of me."

"Now, when you say 'flew'-" Sylar laughed.

Jan shook her head, giggling. "-Not like THAT!"

"Don't go getting any ideas." Matt said jokingly as he bumped shoulders with Sylar.

"I wouldn't dream of it." Sylar turned as a nurse walked into the room, carrying a small, blanketed bundle.

"He's had his nap and his nappy changed, Mrs. Parkman." The nurse said as she handed the baby to Jan. Matt quickly joined Jan and stood beside her, cooing at the baby in his wife's arms. He turned to Ava and Sylar.

"Wanna see him?"

Ava nodded as she stepped forward, peering down at the baby as he stared up at her. A tender smile played across her lips as she reached out to touch his hand and gasped as he reached out, grabbing her finger. "Oh wow, he's got a grip already." She whispered.

"Strong boy, just like his daddy." Matt nodded.

"Do you want to hold him?" Before Ava could say anything, Matt took the baby from Janice and deftly placed him in Ava's arms.

"Okay, this is weird." Ava looked around nervously as she held the newborn. "I don't think I've ever held a baby before, actually. Not since I was a teenager, anyway."

"Really?" Sylar leaned against the wall, his eyes gleaming as he watched Ava cradle the baby in her arms. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were a natural at it."

"Absolutely." Matt nodded. As he read Ava's mind and the turmoil in it, he gave her a sympathetic smile. "You look perfect holding him."

Ava stared down at the baby, fighting tears as she watched him. He looked up at her, his eyes boring into hers as she studied him, fascinated. "He's so little." She nodded softly. "This is what we're fighting for, you know? This is what we're protecting from Kane."

"Yeah, it is." Matt nodded.

"The next generation." Ava whispered. "This is why we're training. This is why we fight." She looked over to Sylar, then turned to Matt. "We have to protect this little guy, him and Niki's baby and every other child that Kane could threaten." She looked down at the baby and cooed. "And we will, no matter what."

* * *

July 2, 2007

Later that night, Sylar turned over, frowning as he realized that Ava wasn't in bed. He stood, searching for her before he heard the sound of fists hitting a boxing bag. Frowning, he climbed out of bed and made his way towards the gym. He spotted Ava in a corner of the dark room. Dressed in shorts and a sports bra, she punched and kicked at the bag hanging there, sweat pouring off of her, her hair in her eyes as she fought the bag as if it were the devil. Sylar sat on the floor and watched as she continued to fight before he finally cleared his throat. She jumped and turned, seeing him behind her. "You okay?" He asked softly.

Ava nodded. "Yeah. I'm just getting some extra training time in, that's all." She avoided his eyes before she turned and started attacking the bag again with gusto.

"Ava, what's going on?" Sylar asked her.

"Nothing." Ava threw a few more punches and kicks at the bag before she stopped and leaned over, bracing her hands on her knees as she began to take deep breaths. "I just want to be ready. I want to be ready for him when he comes."

"He's coming soon, isn't he?" Sylar frowned as Ava nodded, turning back to the bag to attack it again. "Do you know when?"

"Within the week." Ava looked away. "I can feel it."

"There's something you're not telling me." Sylar whispered. Ava continued to avoid his eyes as he stood and began to circle her and the bag while she punched it. "There's something you know that you don't want to tell me."

"Everything's fine." Ava nodded. "We're going to be fine. Everyone's going to be fine. We'll fight him and win."

"Ava-"

"-I said everything's FINE!" She yelled as she threw one last punch at the bag, releasing her rage both through her fist and through her mind. Sylar jumped back as the bag exploded and Ava collapsed on the floor in tears. He quickly ran to her as she sobbed, tugging her boxing gloves off. The minute he touched her, she leapt into his arms, clinging to him as he held her. "We're going to be fine. We're going to be fine. We're going to be fine." She whispered as she wrapped her arms tightly around him, her body shaking as she cried against his shoulder.

"I know." He whispered. He held her in the dark gym as she sobbed against him, stroking her hair as he stared off into space helplessly.


	40. Chapter 40: Making Plans

Chapter Forty: Making Plans

July 2, 2007

Noah groaned as he heard someone knocking at his door. "You've got to be kidding me." He whispered as he rolled over and checked his watch. "It's two a.m., who's having a baby now?" He climbed out of his bed and walked to the door, his eyes narrowing as he put on his glasses and spotted Sylar standing in front of him. "You'd better have a damn good reason to wake me up right now." He growled. "This is the second time in two days that I've been awakened at two in the morning."

"I do have a damn good reason." Sylar stepped past Noah into his room.

"Oh, DO come in." Noah muttered sarcastically.

"Thanks." Sylar nodded, his expression distant as he switched on a light and took a seat. "It's about Ava."

"Oh?" Noah sat across from him, suddenly awake at the mention of Ava's name. "Is she okay?"

"No." Sylar shook his head. "She just had a meltdown in the gym about an hour ago."

Noah sat up. "Define 'melt-down', please."

Sylar slumped in his seat. "All day, she's been acting weird, you know? Once we all decided that we'd take breaks from training on Sunday, she's been fine with it. Now, all of a sudden today, she gets this wild hair to train today, even though we were off-"

"-She's afraid that Kane is coming, we all are. She just wants to make sure that she's in top condition when he gets here-"

"-I don't think that's it, okay?" Sylar ran his fingers through his hair, making it stand on end as he fidgeted in his seat. "She was almost manic this morning, running and running. Then, as soon as Hiro shows up and tells us that Janice had her baby, she immediately decides that she wants to see him. She doesn't want to wait, she doesn't want to hang on for a day or two, she wants to see him as soon as she can. Then, I sort of proposed to her-"

"-I know." Noah smiled softly. "I never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad you did. She really does love you-"

"-and she says yes, even though I told her that it wasn't an official proposal yet. She looked so happy, but at the same time, she looked so sad-" As Noah looked away with an equally sad look on his face, Sylar frowned "-and you know WHY she's sad, don't you?" Noah stared at the floor quietly for a moment. Frustrated, Sylar pounded his fist on the arm of his chair. "Dammit, Noah! Tell me what's going on with her!"

Noah blinked for a moment and shrugged. "It's the drawing you did. It scared her, Sylar. I'd venture to say that it's scared her even more than it scared you."

"I doubt that's possible." Sylar shook his head.

"NO?" Noah raised an eyebrow. "She has spent the last nine years working for this company as an assassin. She made the mistake of falling for a mark when she was nineteen and after she killed Roarke, she realized then that she couldn't risk her heart again. She wouldn't let herself fall in love, she wouldn't let herself care about anyone but me and Claude and any sexual relationships she had were just that, sexual. Then you come along and she falls in love again. She's been spending the last six months alternating between begging us to let her kill you before she lost her heart to you completely, and begging us to let you live. She's finally found the person that she believes she was meant to be with and she's finally decided to actually have a life beyond this company and now, just as she's made that decision, you go and draw that sketch that shows her dying on the battlefield. How would YOU feel if you were her, huh?"

"She's had it rough?" Sylar glared at Noah. "What about me? I've spent my entire life being rejected by women, being pushed around by my mother, being ignored by everyone until I started gaining powers. I spent the better part of six months with one goal in mind. All I wanted was to kill and get more powers until I fell in love with her, and I didn't even ASK to love her, dammit! YOU put her with me! You knew, didn't you? That Eden chick told you that I had feelings for her when I was in New York last summer and that's why you put us together, right?" Noah looked away as Sylar nodded. "Yeah, I figured that part out. I figured out that was the reason why you chose AVA of all people to be my guardian, because sooner or later, I'd realize who she was-"

"-actually, it took her dyeing her hair brown again before you figured it out, but continue-" Noah muttered.

"-part of me knew, deep down who she was, I think. I didn't ask to fall in love, I didn't ask to want her forever, but I did and I do and it scares the SHIT out of me to know that now, just as I'm finally realizing that there's someone else in this world besides me that I give two shits about, that I may lose her, so yeah, I'm just as scared and freaked out about her dying in that battle too. I'm also optimistic. Everyone here has seen that sketch, everyone here knows she could be killed and everyone here cares about her as much as I do. She's a surrogate daughter to you and Claude and a surrogate sister to Niki, Peter, Mohinder, Candice, Matt, Hiro and Claire. Hell, even Elle's starting to look up at her with her eyes filled with hero worship. I know that everyone here will pull together to make sure that she, along with everyone else, will make it through this battle safely. I have hope that she'll survive. That's why I talked about proposing, because I know in my heart that we WILL get past this, and that we WILL have a life together." Sylar reached into his pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper. "I know because I drew this earlier yesterday." He handed the paper to Noah, nodding. "It's the reason I'm going to propose."

Noah unfolded the paper and raised an eyebrow at the sketch. Two people, a dark-haired man and a red-haired woman were entwined on the sand of a beach. "So you think this is you and Ava?"

"Obviously it's us and we're together on a beach. You see any beaches around here?" Noah shook his head as Sylar nodded. "See? This is obviously us AFTER the fight. I guess we slip off somewhere afterwards to celebrate." Sylar smiled. "When I drew that sketch, I realized that everything was going to be okay. I realized then that we're going to have a future together. That's when I realized that I really and truly WANT a future with her. It's why, as soon as this fight is over, I'm proposing to her."

Noah nodded, his heart filling with hope that Sylar was right. "When you do propose to her, you have my blessing."

"Thanks." Sylar took the sketch from Noah and slowly folded it back up and tucked it back into his pocket.

"So what kind of a melt-down did she have tonight?" Noah asked.

"I woke up and realized she wasn't in bed with me and I heard the sounds of someone punching a bag in the gym. She was there and she was throwing these wild punches and kicks at the bag in the corner. Finally, she just blew the damn thing up, collapsed and started crying while telling me that everything was going to be okay. I finally convinced her to go to bed. Before I came here, I raided the infirmary and stole a few sleeping pills to make her stay in bed. She's really messed up, Noah. She's certain that Kane's coming here soon and I think she's certain that she's going to die."

Noah closed his eyes. "She thinks Kane's coming because he is." Noah reached for a file on the table beside him and handed it to Sylar. "I showed this to her late Saturday night."

"What is it?" Sylar opened the file and started to read the printouts of various newspaper reports. "Someone's murdering motorists on the west coast?"

"Someone's slashing motorists to pieces, stealing their cars and driving a few hundred miles up the coast before starting all over again. The fingerprints the police are finding don't match anything in their records, but they DO match the ones in ours. It's Kane. When he attacked Candice in the bar in Odessa, we were able to pull a few prints off of a belt buckle that she was wearing. The fingerprints from the murder scenes matched the prints we had on file. The last murder victim was found in Dawson Creek, British Columbia early Saturday morning, it was a young man named George Sumner from Vancouver. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are searching for Sumner's car, but odds are, it'll simply turn up a few hundred miles down the road soon and then, another body will be found."

"If Kane's already left Dawson Creek-"

"-He's driving north on the Alaskan Highway. Odds are, he's driving through the Yukon and he'll be arriving in Delta Junction, Alaska soon which means he'll be arriving here within a day or two at the most after that. Then, all he has to do is question the locals until someone tells him about the research facility located out in the tundra and he'll be all over us. We figure he'll be here by Wednesday, the fourth."

"Shit." Sylar groaned.

"We may be able to buy a few days at the most, though." Noah stared at the file as Sylar handed it back to him. "On the Fourth of July of every year, Barrow hosts the Eskimo games. The winners will compete in" Noah studied a report "the World Eskimo Olympics. There will be quite a crowd in town this Wednesday-"

"-A crowd that Kane will easily blend into-"

"-and a crowd that he won't want to disrupt by killing and maiming. He'll probably want to lay low for a day or two until everything's over with and the visitors leave. That will leave him to question the locals without worrying about running into too many dead ends."

"Well, hopefully then, that'll buy us a day or two."

"Maybe." Noah looked away. "Odds are, he'll be here and we'll have to fight him by the seventh."

"If he can keep finding people gullible enough to give him rides between here and Delta Junction." Sylar murmured.

"He will. All it will take will be for him to arrive in a truck stop and use his power to put someone under his thrall long enough to get them alone, kill them and take their car."

Sylar rubbed his eyes. "So Kane's coming this week."

"Yes, he is." Noah nodded, his expression sad.

* * *

July 7, 2006

The moment Ava arrived back at the gallery, her eyes widened as she spotted Simone speaking with a client. She recognized Linderman as he strolled alongside Simone, nodding at Isaac's latest paintings with appreciation. "Very lovely work he's done, Miss Deveaux." He turned and spied Ava, smiling. "Why, hello there."

Simone stepped forward with Linderman. "Melissa, this is one of my biggest clients, Mr. Linderman. Sir, this is Melissa McCain, she's the new docent I was telling you about."

Linderman smiled at Ava, his eyes sparkling as he took her hand. "Miss McCain, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Ava nodded as she gently squeezed Linderman's hand in hers. "The pleasure is all mine, Sir. Miss Deveaux has told me many wonderful things about your patronage."

"How kind of her." He turned to Simone. "I see that Miss Hilton has strolled into your gallery again." He winked at Simone as a vapid-looking blond ambled inside. He leaned towards her conspiratorially. "Maybe you could sell her that piece you were telling me about earlier, that one that a critic said was pretentious and classless? I think that's the perfect piece for her." He winked. "Gouge her for all it's worth while you're at it. I'll have Miss McCain finish showing me around."

Simone laughed softly. "There you go again-"

"-always looking out for you." Linderman grinned. "You did say you've been having trouble moving that piece from that artist, what was her name?"

"Whitt." Simone nodded.

"I think you'll probably find a buyer in that young girl." Linderman nodded to the blond again and watched as Simone walked towards her. The moment she left, he turned back to Ava. "I got the package you sent me." He grimaced. "You could have left a note on it, given me a bit of warning about what I was about to watch."

"I figured you'd have known what it was. It's not like I'm going to send you a DVD of my sight-seeing tours around town." Ava sighed. "I sent a copy to Kaito as well."

"I know." Linderman nodded grimly. "He called me late last night, cursing about Thompson in Japanese. It took me a few hours to calm him down before I promised to come here to New York to talk to you about the footage you sent." Linderman sighed. "WHY did you send it?"

"Because you're not the only one in New York." Ava stared at the floor. "Thompson showed up here a couple of days ago."

"What did he want?" Linderman's eyes narrowed.

"You saw the homemade porno, you tell ME. I've been here for a couple of months now and he's been getting a set of blue balls. I smarted off to him on the phone when he ordered up a booty call and he got pissed off. I realized that the beating he gave me in January was going to be a cakewalk compared to what he would do when he got to my apartment."

"I saw that beating." Linderman closed his eyes for a moment. "What you've had to endure-"

"-I know." Ava nodded. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"You seem to be in one piece. What happened when he arrived at your home?"

"I copied the DVD's before he got there and sent a copy overnight to his wife. When he arrived, I started the film, told him what was heading to his house and he hauled ass out of there to try and beat the mail." Ava looked up, raising an eyebrow. "He ALMOST made it."

"Oh dear." Linderman frowned. "Did Susan-"

"-That's her name?" Ava smiled ruefully. "All these years and he's never mentioned her name to me. I've seen her picture on his desk all these years, seen her smiling up at me while he screwed me from behind, but I never knew her name or their son's."

"They call the son T.J." Linderman nodded. "So Susan saw the DVD too? And she's still MARRIED to him?"

"Thompson said she saw the first five minutes and then he stopped the film. He said he had to do a lot of lying to get out of it." Ava shuddered. "He told me that in person actually, about thirty minutes ago."

"Because he's back in New York?" Linderman's eyes narrowed.

"He came back to attack me again. He grabbed me in the park and started threatening me."

"I see." Linderman looked away, his face turning red with anger. "You can't stay here, Avery."

"Sir, I'm on an assignment for Noah-"

"-I understand what your assignment is and you're not needed. The McCain girl that you've been training, do you think she can handle the rest of this assignment on her own?"

Ava shrugged. "I think so. I think she'll be okay if she continues to report straight to Noah."

"Let her do that. This is an order coming from the very top, do you understand me?"

Ava blinked and looked away, confused. "You want me to go back to Odessa?"

"No." Linderman shook his head. "You're leaving the country. As long as you're here, Thompson will continue to obsess over you instead of doing his job. He'll continue to try and steal away to threaten and molest you. I want him focused on what he's doing, not WHO he wants to do."

"You're going to keep him around, aren't you?" Ava's face fell. "You're keeping him around and sending me away."

Linderman's face softened. "Oh my Dear, no. This is not a punishment for you, I promise." He patted her arm gently. "You've been through enough at Thompson's hands. I made myself watch everything on that disk, every abuse you suffered, every-" Linderman shook his head "-you are not being punished at all. I have a home in Spain, in Barcelona. I'll call on my staff there and tell them to expect you. I want you to go there by tomorrow evening and I want you to stay in Spain until November. Do NOT return here until after the elections, okay?"

Ava nodded slowly. "Yes Sir." She stared at the floor again for a moment before raising her eyes to Linderman's. "What do I tell Noah?"

"Tell him that you've been ordered to take leave by the head of the corporation. Tell him that your records were reviewed and that, given your previous history with dead lovers, you didn't take the proper amount of time off after Simon's death. I'll have a memo sent from our grief counseling department stating that given your history and what transpired after Aidan's death, you've been listed as unsuitable for field work until the proper amount of time off has been taken and you've been fully evaluated to make sure you don't attempt suicide again."

"Okay." Ava sighed. She stared at Linderman, confused. "Do we HAVE a grief counseling department?"

"We do now." Linderman winked at her. "Given your history, you have been deemed emotionally unstable to continue field work. You have been asked to spend time in a facility in Barcelona to be fully evaluated and treated. You are off of field duty until you have finished your treatment in Barcelona and are reviewed again in mid-November. The death of Simon Lopez has been deemed too much for you to bear until then."

"Great." Ava rolled her eyes. "So I'm being sent on what is going to be listed as whack-job leave."

"If you want to call it that." Linderman shrugged.

"And Thompson?"

Linderman smiled wickedly. "Is he still here in New York?"

"Last time I saw him, he was in the park." Ava grimaced. "He likes to stay at the Plaza when he's here."

"I know. I read the little shit's expense reports." Linderman nodded. "I'll take care of Thompson for now, and after November, YOU'LL take care of Thompson. Permanently."

Ava beamed. "Thank you, Sir."

"You're very welcome." He glanced over her shoulder and spotted the blond strolling out of the gallery, a man following behind her carrying a canvas covered in splattered paint. "Good lord, that's the most hideous thing I've ever seen in my life."

Ava turned and spotted the blond. "The girl, or the painting?"

"Both. She and her entourage have been tossed from my hotel and casino repeatedly. What a mess she is." Linderman watched as Simone finished writing up her sale. "She'll be joining us in a moment." He turned and studied a painting. "Very lovely lines, yes?"

"Very lovely." Ava agreed.

"You'll be on a plane for Barcelona tomorrow evening?"

"I will, Sir." Ava nodded. "One more favor?"

Linderman chuckled. "You're pushing your luck, don't you think?" As Ava nodded again, he turned to her. "Go ahead, My Dear."

"Noah and Claude-"

"-They'll be protected from Thompson's vengeance. I won't allow Thompson to harm either of them, I swear. They are quite important to me." He turned and studied the painting again as he thought of another painting in his gallery in Las Vegas. "Very important indeed."

* * *

July 2, 2007

Sylar stretched out in bed beside Ava, stroking her hair as she slept. Thinking of the sketch he'd drawn, he smiled to himself and wrapped his arms around her. "He might be coming for us, but you're not dying at his hand. You're not dying at anyone's hand, not if I have anything to say about it."

A few hours later, he groaned as Claude beat on his door. "Get up! Get dressed! Get going!" Claude barked through the closed door. "Time to train!"

"Oh go fuck yourself." Sylar muttered as he buried his face in the back of Ava's neck. He smiled as he heard her murmur and felt her begin to stir. "Good morning."

"What happened?" Ava grimaced as she smacked her lips. She rolled over and glared at Sylar as he smiled lovingly down at her. "Did you DRUG me?"

"You were wigging out in the gym so yes, I drugged you."

Ava rolled her eyes as she sat up, clutching her head in her hands. "I wasn't wigging out-"

"-yes you were and don't try to deny it." Sylar sighed and shook his head. "I talked to Noah after I brought you back here and slipped you a Mickey. He told me why you were so upset."

Ava stared at Sylar warily. "He TOLD you what's going on? You're not freaked out and pissed?"

"Pissed about what?" Sylar shook his head. "Why would I be pissed that you're so in love with me you're scared to lose me?" Sylar stroked her hair. "I feel the same way."

Ava nodded slowly, trying not to breathe a sigh of relief. "I'm glad." She reached out, cradling the hand that rested on her hair in her own. "I love you."

Sylar smiled softly. "I love you too." He began to lean towards her and jumped as Claude beat on the door again. He turned, glaring at the closed door as the echoes of Claude's fist were followed by his booming voice.

"UP WITH THE BOTH OF YOU! DON'T MAKE ME GO IN THERE AND DRAG THE TWO OF YOU OFF OF EACH OTHER! BLOODY HELL, GIVE YOUR JOHN THOMAS A REST, WILL 'YA?"

"I'm not saying I want to cut his head off or anything, but I'm pretty precise with my power." Sylar turned to Ava, giving her a pleading look. "Can I at least sever his vocal cords?"

"No." Ava laughed as she climbed out of bed. "What kind of world would it be without Claude's voice filling it?"

"A quiet one." Sylar grumbled as he slowly stood and grabbed his clothes.

* * *

July 7, 2006

Thompson grimaced as another bolt of pain shot through his face. "Fucking Claude." He muttered as he fished his hotel room key out of his pocket. "He's going to pay for that one." Thompson shook his head, making another face as that movement caused more pain to course through his head. "Ten hours in an emergency room, just to be told that I'd have to see a plastic surgeon at home and no painkillers to set me right until then. He's going to pay." He opened his hotel room door and stopped, frozen as he spotted Daniel Linderman sitting in a chair, facing him. "Mr. Linderman, what brings you here?" He whispered nervously. He shifted back and forth on his feet as Linderman continued to stare at him through slitted eyes that glittered angrily. "Now, Mr. Linderman, I know that she sent you a disk and that there was some incriminating stuff on it, but Ava's lying, she's nothing but a lying little slu-"

"-ENOUGH!" Linderman spat out angrily. "Ava is not a liar and certainly not a slut. YOU on the other hand-"

"-Look at my face! Look at what her boyfriend Claude did to me! Will you look at this? She's been lying to you, Mr. Linderman, hiding Claude Raines here in New York and-"

"-I'm well aware of Mr. Raines' location and I'm well aware of the fact that he and Agent Reese are still in contact. I'm also aware of the fact that you accosted her today and threatened her-"

"-she sent that DISK to my wife-"

"-SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Linderman stood up quickly, his face turning red with anger as Thompson backed against the door, cowering. "I've had enough of your lies and I've had enough of YOU! You promised me, many years ago when I covered up your last indiscretion, that you would toe the line. You swore to me after I helped hide the body of that last girl you became obsessed with, stalked and finally murdered, that it would be the last time you'd go that far and yet, here we are again, only this time you're not just stalking some random girl you met in a bar, you're stalking and harassing one of my best agents!" Linderman slowly approached Thompson. "She told me everything, though I already knew. I knew that you were taking obscene liberties with her after the two of you bungled the job in Prague. You went with her, though she didn't want you there, so you could screw her in a foreign hotel room and the two of you damn near got killed because you were too busy thinking with your dick! I knew in Las Vegas after you two were debriefed and I questioned her. Do you realize that was the first time I ever saw that girl actually look terrified? She was terrified to tell me about your disgusting ways with her, what you were doing to her, but she wasn't scared for herself, she was scared for her friends." Linderman nodded, his face twisting in disgust as Thompson flattened himself against the door. "You certainly found the right thing to threaten her with, didn't you? She didn't care if you killed HER for telling, but she'd certainly have a problem with Claude, Noah and Noah's family being harmed in any way, so she kept her mouth shut, until she couldn't keep it shut any longer. She bought cameras, you see. She bought a set of them and placed them around her apartment to get footage of you abusing her. My people found it during a routine sweep of her home and showed the footage to me. Even then, confronted with that proof, she was too terrified to tell me everything until I promised to protect those that she was protecting with her silence. Then, she spilled everything." Thompson looked away as Linderman continued to speak in an even, controlled voice. "She told me that you started by raping her the night of her eighteenth birthday. She told me about every disgusting moment that you took liberties with her, the times you made her service you in your office during your lunch hour, during HER lunch hour, after work, during missions. She told me about the times you'd tie her up and beat her, about every depraved fantasy you made her take part in, every disgusting act that you forced upon her, all while threatening the Bennet family and Claude Raines if she refused you or told anyone." Linderman nodded slowly. "That's when I had the better cameras installed, with sound, so we wouldn't just be able to SEE what you were doing to her, but hear the threats as well. You're screwed, Thompson, very, very screwed."

Thompson shuddered as Linderman's eyes bored into him. "Sir, just listen-"

"-I don't want to listen." Linderman shook his head slowly. "What I want to do is call Agent Reese, tell her to come here and use her remarkable power to exact revenge for what you've done to her these past few years. I want to sit and watch while she kills you slowly." Linderman leaned forward as Thompson began to shake with terror. "Tell me why I shouldn't let her have her vengeance."

"You need me." Thompson sniveled. "For the job, you need me."

"I do, unfortunately." Linderman nodded. "That's the only thing stopping me from letting Ava kill you." He stepped back, smirking as he noticed that Thompson had wet himself. "And in order to make SURE you do the job correctly and WITHOUT distractions, I'm sending her away until the job is done." Linderman smirked as Thompson's eyes widened for a moment. "I'm sending her OUT of the country until November and I'm taking your passport, effective immediately." As Thompson looked away, his expression miserable, Linderman chuckled under his breath. "That's right, you're not going to be able to sneak off to Europe, Asia, Africa, or wherever the hell I choose to send her. I know you too well, Thompson. I know that you'll stand here and say 'yes Sir, I understand Sir, I'll keep away from her, Sir' and the moment my back is turned, you'll be trying to get back to her, to threaten her and torture her more, it's in your nature and I won't allow it. She is one of my best agents and I won't have her be threatened by you for one moment sooner, is that clear?" Thompson nodded slowly. "Good. Starting right now, you are not to see her, you are not to call her, or email her, or even send her a message by smoke signal. You will concentrate on the job at hand and nothing more. If I even suspect you're THINKING about her, I'll have her sent for to finish you before the job is done. It may be late in the game, but I'm sure I can find another idiot willing to help me pull my plan off. Hell, if I promised her that I'd let her kill you slowly and painfully, AVA might actually take over in your tasks for this." He nodded as Thompson shuddered. "And if you do your job exceptionally well, maybe I'll let you go into hiding when this is done, rather than turn you over to Ava in the end. How does that sound?"

"Thank you, Sir." Thompson's voice squeaked nervously as he shifted back and forth on his feet.

"Good. So we have an understanding, then." Linderman smiled as Thompson nodded quickly. "You are to finish this job and keep away from Ava." He held out his hand, trying not to laugh as Thompson flinched. "Your passport. Now." His nose wrinkled in distaste as Thompson quickly stepped away from him to walk to his luggage, his shoes squelching from the urine that had puddled inside of them. As Thompson handed Linderman his passport, Linderman's eyes narrowed. "Even though you are turning this in, don't think I don't suspect that you may have a spare one hidden away with some ridiculous alias." He rolled his eyes as Thompson looked away, reddening. "You WILL be watched like a hawk at all times until November. If you try to run, you'll die."

"Yes, Sir." Thompson whispered.

"Good." Linderman turned towards the door and stopped, his hand on the doorknob. "One more thing we are to discuss before I go." He turned his head towards Thompson, his eyes glittering furiously. "If Claude Raines turns up with even a sniffle, I'll unleash Ava. The same goes for ANY member of the Bennet family."

"What if the girl manifests?" Thompson whispered. "Noah's been acting very strangely, what with this project he's had Ava and Eden working on. I think he's hiding something and I think it has to do with his daughter."

"IF that girl manifests and Noah's hiding it, he'll be discovered. When that happens, you will leave Sandra and that boy alone and bring Claire and Noah into custody. Once that happens, they will both be sent to me immediately and I swear to God, if those two have anything to say about their captivity that is anything but 'we were treated with respect and no one laid a hand on us', I'll unleash Ava with a vengeance. Claire Bennet loves and adores her parents more than anything else in this world and I have it on good authority that she's most definitely a 'daddy's girl'. If she manifests and exhibits even a tenth of the power of her birth parents or grandparents, she'll be a welcome addition to this company IF she joins us willingly. Do YOU think she'd be willing to take up her birthright if her adoptive family is harmed or if she herself has to deal with your twisted ass? You will barely say 'boo' to that girl or her father before they both come to me, is that clear?"

Thompson grimaced and nodded. "Fine. Claude and the Bennet family will be safe from me." As Linderman started to leave, he cleared his throat and quickly cringed at the expression of fury and disgust he was given in return. "Sir, at the risk of infuriating you more-" he pointed to his battered face and smiled sheepishly "-I could probably concentrate on my job better if I don't have to worry about this."

"Fine." Linderman sighed. With disdain, he reached out and touched Thompson's forehead with his fingers. The moment the man's face healed, he snatched his hand away. "Now I have to go and scrub my hand. A lot." He turned and walked out of the hotel room, slamming the door in his wake.

Thompson touched his face, sighing with happiness. "Oh thank GOD! I had no idea how I was going to explain that to Susie." He stared down at himself, finally noticing the wetness in his pants and shoes. "All in all, I'd say I got off easily." He walked quickly into the bathroom and stripped off his urine-soaked clothes, stepping into the shower to clean off. "Fine Linderman, I'll play by your rules while I find a way around them. I can go without Ava until November, but she's too good of an agent for you to keep away forever and once she returns, I'll surprise her with a bullet between her eyes." He smirked, breathing in the steam from the hot water. "And as for Claude and Noah, first I'll find a way for Noah to discover Claude's whereabouts. Once Noah realizes that Claude's still alive, he'll have no choice but to go off and finish the job if he values his own. Linderman won't be able to force me to stop him without arousing Bennet's suspicions and then as for Noah and Claire well" Thompson began to chuckle "I'll find a way to push Noah to go rogue. He'll go rogue to protect that Little Lolita he's raising and when I finally get to kill him, Linderman will have no choice but to allow it in self-defense. Once Noah's out of the way, I'll find a way to weasel my way into Claire's life one way or another and make her pay for everything Noah's precious little protégé has done to me." He smirked as he realized he was getting an erection. "Hello Old Friend. Sounds like YOU can't wait to meet Claire alone either, can you?"

* * *

"So let me get this straight, you're being sent away?" Eden asked as Ava dashed around her apartment, packing her bags.

"Yep." Ava shrugged. "I've been ordered to from the highest tier in the company." Ava glanced over at Eden. "Noah showed you my file, I'm sure."

"Yeah, so?" Eden crossed her arms in front of her chest, frowning.

"So, they've finally gotten around to reviewing Simon's death and realizing that he and I were lovers." Ava avoided Eden's gaze as she separated her things into two separate piles. "They decided that, since I'd lost another lover, they want me to go through some psychotherapy for a few months at this little clinic in Spain, to make sure I don't try and off myself again."

"The circumstances were totally different though." Eden pouted. "You had to KILL Aidan, you didn't kill Simon, he died in a car accident in Columbia while you were in Texas."

"I know, I know." Ava nodded. "But they still want me checked out to make sure that I'm perfectly okay."

"But Simon's been dead for HOW long?"

"Three months."

Eden rolled her eyes. "And it took them THIS long to realize the connection?"

"Bureaucracy at work, what can I say?"

Eden smirked. "You can say the REAL reason you're leaving."

Ava looked up at Eden, surprised. "Excuse me?"

"That story is so full of shit, you could spread it on a garden and grow a prize-winning group of veggies with it. You can't be serious that Noah actually BOUGHT that story."

"It's not a story and yes, Noah believes it." Ava nodded. "Because it's the truth."

"Fine." Eden got up in a huff and headed for the door. "You can pull the wool over Noah's eyes, but you can't with me." She turned and glared at Ava. "I know something's up and I know you're not going off to some spa."

"Eden-" Ava started to speak and sighed as Eden lifted her hand, her eyes shooting daggers.

"Don't. Go off, have a great time in Spain, if that's REALLY where you're going. Maybe we'll bond again when you get back. Until then-" Eden looked away, tears sparkling in her eyes "-I thought I'd finally found a friend. I thought I'd found someone who was really like a sister, not just someone who was playing a part. I was obviously wrong." She slammed the door behind her as she left.

Ava sagged as she sat on the couch, staring at the piles of her things and the boxes that were scattered around the room, most marked 'Texas' on them. "Shit." She muttered.

* * *

July 2, 2007

Kaito and Matt paced the floor in the soundproofed room, grimacing as they checked their watches. "Okay, we've been here ten minutes." Matt grumbled. "How long does it take to slip away from Sylar?" He noticed Kaito's expression and shrugged. "It doesn't take THAT long to give the man a happy does it? I mean, they slipped off together after training and haven't been seen since, that was three hours ago. She told us to meet her here at nine while we were running, it's ten after." He looked up as Ava walked into the room, closing the door behind her. "After three hours, I'm surprised you can walk."

"Funny." Ava sighed. "I finally had to tell him that I was starving and wanted to fix dinner. I've got baked potatoes in the oven, the grill warming up, and the steaks ready to get cooked, so I'll have to be quick with telling you my plan." She turned to Kaito. "Did you give him the lead-in to it?"

Kaito nodded. "That I did. I told him that if you are killed in the battle, that we are going to need HIS particular talents to keep us all from dying at Sylar's hand."

"According to the scroll, Sylar's going to disappear with Hiro and Peter to take care of Kane right after I'm injured, so he's not going to know the extent of my injuries until I return. That's when I'm going to need you to work in tandem with the Haitian." Ava's eyes bored into Matt's. "You can create hallucinations, yes? You can make people see what you want them to see."

"I've been working on it, but yeah, I can do it." Matt nodded.

"Good." Ava took a deep breath and began to speak.

* * *

Sylar headed down the hall of the compound towards the gym. As he entered, he noticed Peter and Hiro as they sat on the floor together, huddled around a laptop. "What about the Koryaksky?" Peter asked.

"Maybe." Hiro sighed.

"Mount Etna?" Peter typed a few keys on the laptop. "It's still active, VERY active, so we know that the lava would probably be hot enough to sear him to a lump."

"It has to be so hot to keep him burned and unable to regenerate for thousands of years, if not for eternity."

"Well, there you go. Etna's been blowing it's stack for hundreds of years-" Peter sighed as Hiro frowned and continued to search "-or we'll just keep searching. Hey! There's one from Japan, Sakurajima."

"I don't want him in Japan ever again, even if it's in a volcanic grave." Hiro muttered.

"Okay." Peter sighed.

Sylar frowned as he walked over to them. "Okay, you're researching volcanoes because?"

"Because we are going to throw Kane into one." Hiro said softly. "It is my idea."

"You're idea?" Sylar frowned. "And how are you going to do that? He's a venom-spitting, wall-climbing, mist-shifting freak."

"We're going to give the whole plan to everyone in a meeting tomorrow morning." Peter looked up at Sylar. "But we'll discuss it with you now, if you want."

"Why am I so special?" Sylar asked warily.

Peter smiled tightly at him. "Because we're going to need your help to pull it off."


	41. Chapter 41: Missed Opportunities

Chapter Forty-One: Missed Opportunities

July 8, 2006

Eden's eyes narrowed as she answered the door. "What now?" She asked.

Ava sighed as she stepped forward. "I need to come in."

"Why?"

"Because I'm about to leave and I can't tell you what I want to tell you out here." She glanced over her shoulder at Chandra's apartment, her brow furrowing for a moment as she saw a shadow pass under the door and stop. "Let me in, Eden."

"Fine." Eden stepped aside as Ava slowly walked in and closed the door behind her. "So you're still heading off to Spain, huh?"

"My flight leaves in three hours." Ava turned to Eden. "The story I told you yesterday was bullshit."

"No kidding." Eden crossed her arms in front of her chest as she leaned against the wall. "So what's the real story? Why are you taking off to Spain?"

"Our boss, our REAL boss-"

"-the one Noah doesn't know about?"

"Yeah." Ava nodded. "He was here yesterday. Thompson was too."

Eden frowned. "Are you in trouble?"

"Not from the boss, no. I sent him a copy of the DVD I've been making of Thompson's attacks. He came to discuss it with me. Before I saw him, Thompson also showed up to threaten me."

Eden smirked. "I take it he didn't get home in time to keep his wife from watching your little homemade porn?"

"She caught just enough to accuse him of being a cheating bastard, but not enough to know that he's a sick bastard." Ava sat down on the couch, shaking her head. "He talked his way out of it with her, but he's not going to be able to do the same with our boss. Thompson's going to be kept alive for now, but after November, he's mine to dispose of."

"So WHY are you leaving?"

"Thompson is needed for a project, apparently an earth-shatteringly important one. Once he's finished with that, he's disposable, but until then, our boss wants him to stay on point. He knows Thompson as well as I do, and we both know that unless I'm out of the picture and out of the country, he's going to obsess over me and obsess over ways to take revenge on me. I'm being sent to Spain for my own safety and for the safety of the project. His passport is going to be confiscated and he's been told that if he contacts me for any reason whatsoever, they won't wait until November to take him out."

"I see." Eden shrugged. "I suppose I can go without having my 'big sister' around until then." She smiled softly. "I'm going to miss you, though."

Ava laughed. "I'll miss you too. It was nice having a sister. I've never had one before."

"Same here." Eden nodded. "That's not the only reason you're here, is it?"

"No." Ava shook her head. "I need you to finish up here as quickly as you can and get back to Odessa. I need you to keep an eye on Noah and Claire and try to keep Thompson from causing too much damage, if you can. Help Noah in anything he needs."

"Sure." Eden nodded again. "I can do that. I'd hate for that freak Thompson to get his hands on Claire any more than you would."

Ava smirked. "He'll NEVER get his hands on her, even if she IS discovered."

"Is this according to your boss?"

"Yeah, but Noah doesn't know that. If anyone finds out that Claire HAS manifested, she'll be treated with kid gloves, but quite frankly, I don't want her to be treated any way at all, if possible."

"Why?"

"She's just a kid, you know? Sure, she's got a hell of a power, but she's still just a kid with her whole world ahead of her. I don't care how powerful her birth family is, I want her to have a choice. I want her to get out there in the world and KNOW she has a choice about her future, before everyone figures out that she has this power and tries to make her decisions for her. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yeah." Eden gave Ava a rueful smile. "I had a choice once, but I made the wrong ones."

"I never had a choice. I was seventeen, in a psychiatric facility and I was told that I could either come with them and learn to be an agent or I could die in a pre-arranged car accident." Ava stared at her hands. "I don't want that for Claire." She looked back up at Eden. "Promise me you'll try to keep them safe?"

"I already said I would-"

"-promise." Ava's eyes bore into Eden's. "Swear to me that you'll try to protect Noah and help him protect Claire, no matter what."

"I swear." Eden whispered.

"And take care of yourself too." Ava reached into the pocket of her blazer and handed a report to Eden. "This was emailed to me last night from the main Primatech office."

Eden took the report and started to read it as she sat down beside Ava. "Someone's killing specials, SG's?"

"Yeah, it looks like. There have been three victims so far, all within a day's drive from here. Two of them had been bagged, tagged and released recently from our local facility. The third one we found, who it turns out was the first one to be killed, was on our watch list. His surveillance team had lost track of him the day he disappeared."

"Where was his body found?"

"In a dump near Brooklyn. We theorize the killer lives somewhere around Brooklyn."

"Why?" Eden frowned.

"Whoever killed the first two left their bodies where they were killed, the third body we found had been hidden away. I think whoever's doing this hid his first victim because it was someone local, or either he killed them near where he lived and didn't want evidence pointing to him to be found too quickly." Ava sighed. "Can you find a way to cross-check these names with whatever the hell Suresh is doing over there?"

"Absolutely." Eden nodded slowly. "Why would someone kill specials?" She grimaced as she continued to read the report. "And what in the hell is he doing with their brains?"

"I have no idea and I'm afraid to ask." Ava reached into her blazer again. "Take this."

Eden's eyes widened at what was in Ava's hand. "That's your gun! That's your FAVORITE gun!"

"We didn't arm you before you came here. We didn't trust you enough yet." Ava placed the gun in Eden's hands. "I trust you now. Keep that around. I don't know how this killer is finding SG's like us, but I don't want you to get caught without some sort of protection, got it?" She shrugged. "Besides, I can't take it with me on the flight. I'd rather not cause an international incident because I tried to bring it."

Eden studied the gun. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." She stood and hugged Eden fiercely, but quickly. "Be safe."

"You too." Eden watched as Ava headed towards the door. "Goodbye Avery."

Ava turned back to Eden, smiling softly. "Goodbye, Sarah."

July 2, 2007

"So, Mt. Etna it is?" Peter leaned back on his elbows as Hiro and Sylar studied information about the volcano. "I think even one thousand years into the future, it'll still be as active as it is today."

"But what if we throw him in and he finds a way to regenerate?" Hiro asked softly.

"HOW?" Peter smirked.

"He could find a way. What if it erupted and threw what was left of him back out? He'd regenerate, he'd find a way."

Sylar raised an eyebrow and smiled softly. "Then I guess we'll have to make sure that what we throw in will be in enough little pieces to ever come back together in that lava."

Peter stared at him. "Freeze him?"

"And then you use Ava's power to smack his frozen self with one of her psionic bullets. He'll shatter and the pieces-"

"-will never be able to come back together." Peter laughed softly. "Brilliant."

"And torturous forever." Hiro nodded. "Parts of him, searing in that lava for eternity. He'll still be aware enough to know what's happening, but unable to come together." Hiro turned and stared at Sylar. "I thought you were scary before. Now, you're terrifying."

"Thanks." Sylar beamed proudly.

July 8, 2006

Ava stepped out of Eden's apartment and headed towards the door. She stopped as she heard her name called and turned towards the person who had hailed her. She smiled softly. "Gabriel."

Gabriel froze for a moment, his heart pounding as she smiled at him. _Do it, do it now, stop being such a total pussy! _He thought to himself. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he stared at the floor for a moment before taking a deep breath. "Can I walk you out?"

"Sure." Ava nodded. She turned and began to walk down the stairs as Gabriel followed her. She glanced over at him, noticing his intense expression and stopped at the front door of the apartment, turning to him. "Are you okay? You look like something's up."

Gabriel looked over at her. "Wouldyouliketogoutwithme?" He stammered quickly. Taking a deep breath, he laughed softly. "That was even harder than I thought it would be." Shrugging, he stared at the floor. "I've been trying to work up the nerve to do it for weeks now."

"Oh Gabriel." Ava sighed.

Gabriel looked up at her again, his heart sinking at the look on her face. "You don't want to go out with me, I get it." He looked away, closing his eyes. "Dammit."

"It's not that, I-"

"-you're not into me, that's okay. I've been turned down before, a LOT of times, actually-"

"-no, that's not it, either." Ava reached out and touched his shoulder, her heart breaking at the way he flinched. She could feel the disappointment rolling off of him in waves. "I'm leaving the country in a couple of hours."

Gabriel snorted as he stepped away from her. "That's a new one. I haven't been given that line before." He turned away from her and started to walk back into the apartment building. "At least you're being original when turning me down."

"Gabriel, no." Ava shook her head as she tried to follow him. "I've been offered a job in Spain, I'm about to go and grab my bags and catch my plane. I came here to say goodbye to my sister and-"

"-It's okay, really." Gabriel refused to look at her as he began to dash back up the stairs. "You don't have to lie, okay? I get it. God knows I get it. It was stupid of me to think that a girl like you would look twice at me anyway."

"Gabriel! GABRIEL WAIT!" Ava called out to him as he ran up the stairs and disappeared. Leaning against the doorjamb, she checked her watch. "Shit." She muttered.

July 2, 2007

Yukon Territory, Alaska

Kane cursed as he drove along the highway in the car of his latest victim's. It had gotten too cold to simply turn into mist and drift past the blockades the police were setting up as they searched for the "Alaskan Highway Killer." He'd begun to resort to disposing of his victim's bodies creatively, instead of just leaving them by the highway as before. Now, he was killing the victims and leaving their bodies in the trunks of the cars he was now driving until he'd find a country road off to the side to dump the bodies in a ditch before going on his way. As he spotted the latest blockade set up a few hundred feet down the road, he realized that the previous owner of the car he was in now was still in the trunk, their blood soaking through the carpeting. Taking a slow breath to calm his nerves, he knew what he was going to have to do. As soon as he stopped the car, he turned and smiled at the police officer that approached him. "Is there a problem, Officer?"

"License and registration." The police officer muttered gruffly.

"I'm afraid I don't have that." Kane said.

The officer turned and stared at Kane, whipping off his sunglasses. "Excuse me, Son?"

Kane's eyes bore into the officer's. "I just showed you my license and registration."

The officer's expression became slack and confused. "You did?"

"Just now." Kane said, his eyes never breaking contact with the officer's. "I'm free to go."

"You're free to go. You've checked out fine." The officer nodded, dazed.

"Thank you." Kane turned and started the car's engine.

"Have a nice day, Son." The officer said dreamily.

"You too." Kane smirked as he was waved through the blockade. "Easier than I thought it would be."

Five minutes later, the police officer frowned as he allowed another car to drive through the blockade and his eyes fell on a stain on the highway. Stepping towards it, he knelt down and touched it, grimacing at the half-frozen blood that turned the ends of his fingertips red. "AW SHIT!"

July 8, 2006

As Gabriel entered Chandra Suresh's apartment, his eyes narrowed as he noticed Eden sitting at the dinner table with the scientist. "Well, look who's here." He grumbled.

"Gabriel!" Chandra smiled. "Eden just brought over another dish of macaroni and cheese."

"Yippee." Gabriel turned and headed towards the kitchen, stopping as he heard Chandra's next question.

"So how long will your sister be gone?"

Eden shook her head. "Probably until November at the earliest. Apparently there's a new museum that's opening soon in Barcelona and one of the proprietors remembered her from Simone's gallery. He needs her help getting it set up and ready to open."

Gabriel spun around, his eyes widening. "She's really going to Spain?"

Eden nodded. "Yep. Big sis is leaving me all alone in the city for a few months while she kicks up her heels around bullfighters."

"Oh hell!" Gabriel turned and bolted out the door.

Chandra frowned as he turned to Eden. "What's gotten into him?"

Eden smirked. "I think he just realized that my sister wasn't giving him a line of shit a few minutes ago."

"What are you talking about?"

Turning to Chandra, Eden leaned forward. "Well, he just tried to ask her out and when she told him she was leaving, he thought she was lying." Shrugging she stabbed her fork into a macaroni. "It's a small building and anything that goes on in the foyer, I hear through the ducts in my apartment."

"Really?" Chandra's eyes widened.

"Yeah." Grinning Eden winked conspiratorially. "Lemme tell you what the girl in 515 does with her boyfriend down there at 2 a.m.!"

July 2, 2007

Sylar snuggled under the covers with Ava. "I think we've figured out how to dispose of Kane."

"Wonderful." Ava whispered sleepily. "How?"

"Mount Etna."

"Huh?" Ava turned in Sylar's arms, her brow furrowing.

"Hiro's going to teleport us to Mount Etna with Kane. I'm going to freeze him right before it happens so he can't fight us. Then, I'm going to hover Kane over the lava and then Peter's going to hit him with one of your little psionic bullets and shatter him. The pieces of him are going to land in the lava, where he'll literally stew for all of eternity." Sylar grinned. "Pretty wicked idea, huh?"

Ava smiled. "Very wicked indeed. What if Mount Etna erupts and spews him out enough to regenerate?"

Sylar raised an eyebrow. "THAT'S why we're going to teleport 1000 years into the future." His grin widened at Ava's confused expression. "Hiro figures that in 1000 years, mankind will evolve enough to handle someone like Kane. Probably by then, EVERYONE will have evolved to have some type of special power, so if Kane somehow DOES regenerate, he'll find himself up against a whole population of mankind willing and able to destroy him again, instead of just a ragtag team of eight."

"I'll be damned." Ava nodded. "You guys have thought of everything."

Sylar sighed as he cuddled Ava. "Yes, we have."

July 8, 2006

Ava checked out of the window of her apartment for her cab before glancing over at her luggage again. Frowning, she picked up her cell phone and dialed a number, smiling ruefully at the robust English accent that greeted her. "I can only talk for a minute. I'm leaving the country until November."

"WHAT?" She heard Claude exclaim. "Bloody hell, why?"

"Linderman wants me out of Thompson's crosshairs until then."

"Funny, I thought tackling him, beating the shit out of him and breaking the git's nose would have done that."

"EXCUSE ME?" Ava gasped as she heard Claude chuckle. "When did THIS happen?"

"Yesterday after your little fight with him in the park. He tried to shoot you in the back, Luv."

Ava closed her eyes. "I knew I shouldn't have turned my back on him."

"No shit. I trained you better than that, Kiddo. He pulled out his gun and then I knocked his dick in the dirt. I tackled him, beat him to a bloody pulp and broke his nose with his own gun. He'll probably be out of commission for a while with that."

Ava smiled softly. "You've always got my back."

"And I always will." Claude sighed. "So where are you going?"

"Spain. Barcelona. Mr. Linderman has a villa there that he wants me to stay at until Thompson completes a final task for him. After November, I'm returning and taking Thompson out."

"If he wasn't such a bastard, I'd feel sorry for him. Instead, I have one request."

"What's that?" Ava asked.

"When you torture and kill Thompson, can I watch?"

Ava laughed softly. "Sure. Hell, you can probably give me ideas on how to make his death that much slower and more painful."

"I'll think of a few things you can do to him in the meantime." Claude sighed again. "Take care of yourself, Puss."

"You too." Ava glanced out of her window again, looking for her cab before checking her watch. "You know where my apartment here is, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I'm leaving a key under the mat. Come and get it. If you need a safe place to hide, you can crash here on occasion."

"Right." Claude snorted. "I'll hide in an apartment that the OWI is actually paying for."

"Think about it, would they honestly think to look for you HERE of all places?"

"You've got a point. They'd never think I'd be dumb enough to do that. Then again, I've been living under their noses here for a few years now and I haven't been caught yet. I'll come get the key. It might be more comfortable than living in deserted buildings and alleys."

"My thoughts exactly." Ava smiled softly. "Get the key tonight before some crackhead finds it and steals the shit I leave here."

"I'm on my way over now. When do you leave?"

"As soon as my cab arrives, so any minute now."

"Watch your back."

"You too." Ava paused. "See you in November."

"Oh, I'll be waiting." Ava heard Claude chuckle as he hung up the phone.

She glanced out of the window again and sighed as she grabbed her luggage and shrugged. "Might as well meet it on the curb." She opened the door and gasped in surprise to see Gabriel standing at the door, raising his hand to knock. "Hi again!"

Gabriel lowered his hand slowly, his face turning beet red. "I wanted to apologize for earlier, your sister told me about Spain and-"

Ava raised her hand, silencing him. "I understand. I really AM going to Spain."

"I know, I know." Gabriel shoved his hands in his pockets and stared at the floor. "I just thought-" he sighed "-I should have known better. I've just had really horrible luck with women and-"

"-You thought I'd rather say that I was leaving the country than turn you down?" Ava asked softly. Gabriel nodded. Ava smiled and leaned against the door jamb. "I'm not one of those women."

"I know. That's why I should have known you weren't lying."

"Yeah, I'm pretty direct."

"I know. I figured that out the first night I met you." Gabriel turned even redder.

Ava grinned as she blushed, remembering the way she'd thrown herself at him in a drunken haze. "Yeah. I am pretty direct. I will definitely be back in November, December at the latest." Gabriel studied her face as he began to smile. "And when I return, I do plan on coming back to New York. I may move to Texas afterwards, but I think I'll be returning to New York quite a bit, so if you'd like to take a raincheck, I'd really like to go out then."

"You would?" Gabriel's face broke into a huge grin. Ava's grin widened as she noticed how his eyes lit up. "I'd definitely take a raincheck." They both jumped as a horn blared outside of the building. "Your cab?"

"Probably." Ava nodded. "I'm on my way to the airport now."

Gabriel reached for her luggage. "Let me." He picked up her two bags and began to carry them down the stairs of her apartment building. "You pack light for someone leaving for four months."

Ava smiled ruefully, thinking about the gun she'd given Eden. "Well, there were some things I wanted to take, but I figured I wouldn't be able to, so they're staying here in safekeeping or going to Texas. I've got a few clothes and essentials. I'll buy whatever else I need when I get there."

"Sounds nice." Gabriel glanced over his shoulder at Ava, smiling at her. "So what do you want to do on our date in November?"

Ava shrugged. "You have four months to think about it, surprise me. Whatever you normally do on dates is fine with me." Ava smirked. "It's been so long since I've been on an actual date, I wouldn't have any idea what to do."

"You're kidding me right? YOU haven't been on a date in a long time? Are the men around you blind?"

Ava shook her head. "I've just been, busy." She followed Gabriel out of the apartment and watched as he loaded her two bags into the trunk of the cab. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Gabriel turned to her. "Thank you."

"For what?" Ava's brows knitted together.

"For saying yes." Gabriel blushed again as he stared at the pavement.

Ava laughed softly. "You're welcome." She leaned forward and kissed him softly on the cheek, close to his mouth. "Until November?"

Gabriel nodded. "Definitely." He turned to walk away, then turned back to her. "Four months?"

"Four months." Ava smiled. She gasped as Gabriel quickly reached out and gently grasped her face in his hands. He stared into her eyes for a moment before he leaned in and kissed her softly. Leaning towards him, she returned the kiss, feeling her knees weaken as the kiss deepened, feeling his hands slide from her face to her hair. She reached up, grasping his shoulders as they kissed for a moment longer, then blinked, confused as he broke the kiss and stepped back. "Yeah, four months."

Gabriel panted for a moment, surprised at his boldness. "Have a nice trip, Melissa."

"Yeah." Ava turned towards the cab, dazed. She glanced over her shoulder as he watched her. "What do you think of redheads?" She frowned as he grimaced. "What?"

"My mom's a redhead."

"Oh." Ava smirked. "Gotcha." She laughed softly as she climbed into the cab and closed the door. "Guess I'll have to ease him into it." She said to herself softly.

The cabbie stared at her for a moment through his rearview mirror. "Boyfriend?"

Ava shook her head. "Not yet."

"You're kidding me, right? Anyone who kisses a girl like that, he should be her boyfriend."

"Tell me about it." Ava nodded. She laughed softly and then gave an address to the cabbie.

"You're not going to the airport?" The cabbie asked.

"I am, but I want to stop there first, if I can. Leave the meter running?"

The cabbie shrugged. "It's your dime, Sister."

Gabriel watched as the cab pulled away. "I have a date in November." He grinned to himself and turned to walk away, jumping up to punch the air before continuing on his way with a spring in his step. After a few steps, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a list of names he'd quickly jotted down when Chandra wasn't looking. He studied the list and turned to a trash can to throw it away. He paused, his hand hovering over the can before stuffing the list back into his pocket. "I can't stop this now." He said softly to himself. "I've only just started." He turned and continued his walk back to the subway, his thoughts alternating between Melissa McClain and all of the powers that were out in the world, waiting for him to acquire. "The more special I am, the more special I'll be to her." He mused to himself. "I'll be able to protect her, be the man she deserves." He rationalized, knowing deep down that the girl he'd been following for the last few weeks wasn't the real reason he craved powers.

July 3, 2007

_How in the hell did it come to this?_ Kane wondered grumpily to himself as he sat in the back of a van, surrounded by people as they laughed and talked raucously around him. He'd arrived at a truck stop, apparently the last one before Barrow according to the road map in the last car he'd stolen, knowing he'd have a hard time trying to find a ride to Barrow from there. For the last 200 miles, the traffic had gotten thinner and thinner until it began to feel as if he was the only person on the roads at all. When he'd arrived at the truck stop, it was practically empty at first. Groaning to himself as he saw the semi-deserted parking lot, he made his way into the building, stopping to wash the blood of his last kill from his hands before entering the small diner attached to the truck stop. He slid in a booth, and grabbed a menu, realizing how hungry he was for food. He glanced up at the young waitress as she made her way to his booth, smiling as he realized she had to have had a way to come to work. "Hello." He said, his voice silky as he beamed at her.

"Hi." She smiled softly. "What'll you have?"

_Before or after I kill you for your car?_ He thought to himself as he studied his menu. "What's the best thing you serve here?"

The waitress smirked. "In this greasy spoon? The number five, I guess. You want that with or without food poisoning?"

Kane glanced over at the cook, noticing the way the burly guy glared at the waitress, overhearing her comment. "Without, I'm sure." He handed her the menu. "The number five will be fine."

"Fine." The waitress turned to walk away, frowning as Kane quickly reached out and caught her hand. "What?" She muttered.

"How's the traffic through here?" Kane asked softly, noticing the way her eyes glazed over momentarily as his power took her over.

"Dead, usually." The waitress said in a monotone. "It's worse in the winter. We don't even stay open most of the time, then. We've had more visitors than usual through here the last few days though."

"Why is that?" Kane asked.

"The Eskimo Games."

"The what?" Kane laughed.

"Barrow hosts the Eskimo Games every year. They start tomorrow on the fourth. It's kind of an Eskimo Olympics."

"You don't say. So you've had a lot of cars coming through here on their way to BARROW?" Kane watched as the waitress nodded dumbly. "I see. Do you expect more cars today?"

"Yeah." She nodded again. "I expect a few more before the festivities start tomorrow."

"Good." Kane leaned back in his seat. "I hope you're right. How did YOU get to work here today?"

"I live in a cabin behind here." Kane frowned as the waitress continued talking. "Me and Sam." She jerked her head towards the cook. "We own this diner and we live behind it."

"Oh." Kane smirked. "Do you and Sam have a car?"

"We do, but it's broken down." Kane's frown deepened at this revelation. "We ask truck drivers when they come through if any of 'em can fix it, but none of 'em know how yet." The waitress sighed. "That or they don't bother to help us."

"I see." Kane waved the waitress away with his hand. "Thanks for the information. I'll have my meal now."

"Huh?" The waitress blinked as Kane released her from his power and stared around the diner, stunned. Blinking, she turned back to Kane. "Your food, yeah." She turned and walked over to the cook, handing him the order before sitting down at a barstool, looking around with a confused expression.

Before he had even finished the greasy soup and burger the waitress brought him a few minutes later, a large van pulled up and a group of people entered the diner, talking loudly and excitedly as they sat in the booth behind him. He counted the people as they walked in. _Eight people _he mused to himself _I could kill them all, kill everyone in here and take the van._ He frowned, thinking better of it. _Judging by the roadblocks, the police are looking for the man who's been killing people along this highway since Washington. If I kill everyone here, with Barrow as the only stop after this diner, they'll know where I went. Odds are, I could hide in the crowd in Barrow, but I may stick out like a sore thumb._ He thought grimly, touching his blond hair as he glanced over, studying the group's dark hair and tanned skin. _Yes, I'd definitely stick out in a group of people like this. Better to catch a ride with them to Barrow, lay low in the crowd and find out just WHERE in Barrow Hiro and his friends have holed up._ Making his decision, he got up and walked to the booth behind him, using his powers of persuasion as he talked to the group, convincing them to give him a ride with them to Barrow. An hour later, he was riding in the back of the van with the group, listening as they laughed and joked with each other. Sighing to himself as he smiled at the group, he then turned to the window and stared out at the snowy landscape. _Enjoy yourselves for now, Hiro and friends. _He thought to himself. _I'm coming soon, and I'll kill you all._

With that thought, he face finally broke into a genuine smile.

July 8, 2006

Ava stepped out of the cab, remembering to give the cabbie a tip to stay and keep the meter running as she dashed towards the building and made her way to penthouse of the building. She smiled at Simone as she answered the door. "Is Mr. Deveaux feeling well enough to talk today?"

"Sure." Simone let her in. "He's resting on the patio." Simone shrugged. "I kept telling him it was too hot, but he wanted to go out. He said," she paused, frowning sadly "he said he wanted to feel the heat of the day, since he wasn't going to be able to enjoy the hot days for much longer." She and Ava exchanged sad expressions before showing her guest to the patio. "Dad?" Simone called out to him. "You have a visitor."

Ava felt her heart plummet as Charles turned in his wheelchair and smiled tiredly at her. "Mr. Deveaux." She whispered, noticing how sickly he looked. Since she'd last seen him, he'd lost weight. She walked over to him and knelt beside him, taking one of his hands in both of hers. She struggled to find words to say to him.

Charles smiled down at her as he reached out with his free hand, patting her gently on the head. "I look like hell, Kid. I know this." He indicated a chair beside him. "I figured you'd come today." He turned to Simone as Ava sat in the chair he'd show to her. "Can I have a moment alone with Miss McCain please?" He turned back to Ava. "I don't have much time left, Ava."

"I'm sorry." Ava said, blinking back the tears that had suddenly sprung to her eyes.

"Oh, none of that." Charles slowly reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. "I've had a good life, Sweetie. No need for tears." He sighed as Ava accepted the cloth and dabbed at her eyes. "Daniel stopped by last night and told me that Thompson is continuing to be a nuisance." Ava nodded as Charles sighed. "Jackass. I don't know why Daniel thinks HE would be a good choice to-" he noticed the way Ava leaned forward, listening intently "-but never mind that. So, you're going to Barcelona. Daniel's villa there is a palace and the weather there is beautiful this time of year."

"Is it?" Ava asked.

"Oh yes." Charles closed his eyes for a moment, a smile spreading across his lips. "I went there once. It was stunning. The countryside was spectacular. You'll have a wonderful time." Charles opened his eyes to watch Ava. "While you're there, travel. I always wished I'd taken the time to travel more. Go to Barcelona and watch bullfights. Go to the islands, especially Mallorca. Travel all of Spain. If there are topless beaches there, have fun and give the girls there a run for their money."

"Mr. Deveaux!" Ava laughed, momentarily scandalized.

"I'd certainly LOVE to see that!" Charles chuckled before he began to cough. Ava's smile faded as she leaned forward, taking his hand. Charles gasped for a moment, then shook his head. "Damn this body." He muttered. "There's no worse feeling in the world than knowing your body has betrayed you so deeply as to get a fatal illness." He frowned, shaking his head. "Nothing worse in this world." He sighed as he stared at Ava. "Enjoy life, Ava. The existence you've had-" his frown deepened "-I know you've had some advantages, but I want more for you. You're more than a killer, Kid. You have a good heart and you deserve a long life and true love." He squeezed the hand that rested in his. "You never know when those damn spinners of life the Greeks and Romans talked about will cut your thread, Kid, so enjoy it while you can. Promise me that."

"I promise." Ava whispered. "I wanted to stop by before I left so I could tell you something."

"What would you like to say, Sweetie?"

Ava smiled at Charles, blinking back tears. "Thank you. Thank you for everything."

Charles nodded as he patted Ava's hand. "You're welcome." He leaned back in his chair. "When is your flight?"

"I'm on my way to the airport now."

"Good. Get out of here and enjoy life, you got it?" Charles smiled softly as Ava nodded. "THAT is how you can thank me." He studied her for a moment. "You're like another daughter to me. I remember when they first brought you into the company, getting the reports of your progress. I knew then you'd be an exceptional agent. When I finally got to meet you, I knew you weren't just an exceptional agent, you were an even more exceptional human being. Take care of yourself."

"You too." Ava stood. "I have to go. My cab is waiting downstairs."

"Lord, the bill you're going to have!" Charles chuckled gently, trying not to cough again. He smiled as Ava leaned down and kissed his forehead. "Have a good life, My Dear."

"I will." Ava reached down and carefully hugged Mr. Deveaux, fighting the urge to cry. "You have a good life too."

"I already have." Charles sighed. "Now I just have to hope for a good death and enjoy what few pleasures I have left until then." He leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. "Pleasures like the heat of a summer day. Simone doesn't understand why I like sitting out here, even if it's hotter than hell, but I think you do, don't you?" He opened his eyes as Ava nodded. "Goodbye, Geneva."

Ava's eyes widened for a moment before she smiled. "Goodbye, Charles." She turned and walked into the apartment, giving Simone a quick hug before heading to the elevator and leaving the building. Climbing into the cab, she glanced at the building again before turning to the cabbie. "JFK Airport, please."

"Yes ma'am!" The car moved away as Ava watched the building fade away behind her.


	42. Chapter 42: The Unforgiving

I didn't say this before I posted Chapter 41, but I'd like to thank everyone who has been emailing me reviews of this story in the last two years. Sorry it's taken so long for me to update and I promise this won't take another two years to get finished-more like two months or so (maybe less at the rate I'm going). For the reasons why it's taken me so long, check out my profile here. I put some updates there on what all's been going on with my life, lately. Anyway, thanks for reading and hopefully I haven't lost too many of my readers by spending the last two years cramming for my RN instead of writing this story. Enjoy this chapter and the ones that will be following soon!

TMM

Chapter 42: The Unforgiving

August 12, 2006

Ava's eyes fluttered open as the train she was riding on began to slow down. She picked up her purse as the train finally stopped and stepped out with the other commuters onto a platform. She took a deep breath and made her way out of the train station, heading into the city of Madrid.

Since arriving at Mr. Linderman's villa, on a secluded beach in Barcelona, she'd spent her days either sitting under an umbrella on the beach watching the waves of the Mediterranean Sea crash on the sand or exploring the city of Barcelona, drinking in the architecture of the old Catalan buildings, eating in the local cafes and visiting the museums that populated the town. She spent her nights wandering around the villa, occasionally watching television, before checking her emails from Bennet and Eden before curling up in the enormous bed in the master suite. The villa was beautiful and the town was spectacular, but after a month, Ava became bored. She'd never spent an entire month on her own with nothing to do and she found she'd missed her job and her friends. Finally, she'd decided to take Charles Deveaux's advice and explore the country, starting with the city of Madrid.

As she stepped out onto the sidewalk from the train station, she smiled and pulled out a map, trying to decide where she wanted to go first. She hailed a cab and, within a few minutes, arrived at the Prado Museum. She walked in, blending in with the crowds as she wandered the halls of the museum, studying the sculptures and works of art on display.

As she studied the painting of a sheep that lay on a table, its legs tied together, a familiar voice whispered close to her ear. "_Agnus Dei_, an excellent painting, isn't it? You remind me of that sheep, tied up and at the mercy of others."

Ava gasped and turned towards the voice, her eyes widening as she recognized the man the voice belonged to. "Simon." She whispered.

Simon smiled as he reached out and touched a lock of her hair, noticing its color as Ava remembered that she'd dyed it brown since he'd seen her last. "I like the red better. You stand out more with it."

"What in the hell are you doing here?" She hissed as she backed away, slapping his hand away from her hair.

"This is where I went after Claude helped me escape. I think the better question is, what in the hell are YOU doing here?"

"I'm on vacation." Ava turned to walk away glaring as Simon reached for her hand.

"Bullshit." Simon grasped her hand finally and gripped it tightly, forcing Ava to turn back to him. "Why are you REALLY here?"

"I told you-"

"-and I told you, that was bullshit." He nodded as Ava rolled her eyes. "Why are you here, Querida? Should I run and hide?"

"Yes." Ava nodded. "You should. I'm probably being followed by the OWI."

"Did you escape them?" Simon asked, his eyes widening.

"No." Ava shook her head. "Mr. Linderman sent me here until November to keep me away from Thompson. He needs Thompson's attention solely on a project they're working on and I've been distracting him—not that I've WANTED to, trust me."

"I see." Simon looked around furtively. "But you think you're being followed?"

"I'd be shocked if Mr. Linderman DIDN'T have someone keeping an eye on me." Ava glared at Simon. "How did you find me?"

"I saw you at the train station. I wasn't sure if it was really you at first, so I followed you here. I finally decided it was you after watching you for a while. No one studies anything the way you do. Even when you look at a work of art, you look at it like you're trying to study every brush mark, almost like it's a logistics map. I had to approach you, I had to talk to you."

"That was stupid, Simon. It was incredibly stupid-"

"-I had to see you." Simon's grip on her wrist loosened. "I've missed you."

Ava sighed as she pulled her hand loose. "After all of the trouble that Claude and I went through to help you escape and you chase me down the first time you see me-"

"-I TOLD you, I missed you." Simon leaned close to her. "I've missed everything about you."

"Get over it. Walk away, Simon." Ava turned away from Simon and started to walk away from him, frowning as she heard his footsteps follow her. Whirling around, she glared at him. "We worked too hard to give you freedom to have you just throw it all away chasing me down so get LOST!" She turned away from him, ignoring the hurt look on Simon's face as she stomped away from him angrily. She left the museum and flagged down a taxi, giving him the address to the hotel she'd reserved when she'd planned her trip. "Idiot." She muttered under her breath as she fumed.

July 3, 2007

Ava stretched and leaned back on her elbows. "I'm done." She groaned.

Peter glanced over at her as he continued chest compressions on the CPR dummy he was assigned to. "You're kidding, right? You can run five miles without hardly breaking a sweat and after an hour of chest compressions, you give up?"

"If they don't have a pulse by then, they're not gonna." Ava shrugged as she looked around the gym. Everyone was divided into teams of two around CPR dummies as they practiced chest compressions. "Besides, the extra medical teams arrived earlier today. THEY'LL be the ones doing all of this, not us."

"You don't know that. Let's say that all eight teams each have a patient that's so critical, they can't leave to help a ninth person that comes in? You'll have to help keep that patient alive until they can break free, right?"

Ava gave Peter a knowing look. "What makes you think I won't BE that ninth person?"

Peter raised an eyebrow at Ava as Sylar glanced at her nervously. "Just keep doing the damned compressions."

Ava sighed as she rubbed her shoulders. "You even said that after two minutes, the person PERFORMING the compressions would be too tired to do them effectively-"

"-That's why in a two person team, you take TURNS after two minutes." Peter nodded to Sylar. "Make him take over."

"Ava-" Niki sat back on her heels as she finished performing compressions on the dummy she and Peter were working on. "Just go with it, okay?"

Ava rolled her eyes. "Fine." She turned to Sylar. "Your turn."

Sylar nodded as he leaned over the dummy and started doing pressing down on the dummy's chest. "What was THAT all about?"

"What?" Ava asked innocently as she counted Sylar's compressions. After he'd done thirty of them, she tilted the dummy's head back and breathed into its mouth twice.

"That little exchange with you and Peter." Sylar frowned. "What's that all about? It was kind of cryptic, don't you think?"

Ava shrugged. "I'm just saying, we've got medical teams for each of us. Why should we spend an hour beating on these dummies' chests? Sure, if someone gets seriously hurt in the fight, we'll have to do this, but not for an HOUR before the medical team gets to them, right?"

"Probably not." Sylar stopped compressions and leaned back, rubbing his own shoulders. "But you don't know. Peter's just making sure we all get through this alive." He elbowed Ava. "Your turn."

Ava smirked. "Fine." She took over at the dummy's chest as Sylar took her place at the dummy's head. "But I'd rather be alone with you."

"You and me both, Hot Stuff." Sylar winked at her.

August 12, 2006

Ava stretched out on the bed of her hotel suite, still fuming over Simon. After napping in her room, she'd spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the city, visiting different museums. There were times when she'd catch a glimpse of him as he followed her around the city, watching every move she made, but never approaching her. She was waiting for him to move close to her again and try to speak of her, but he never did, apparently learning his lesson from the tongue-lashing he'd received from her earlier. His very existence both annoyed her and intrigued her. The last month of wandering alone around Barcelona had shown her that, even though she considered herself a loner, she'd actually spent almost all of her time surrounded by friends, usually Bennet and Claude, then Eden. She'd found herself missing the three of them desperately and running into a familiar and friendly, albeit obsessive, face had reminded her just how truly lonely she was.

_What if I'm not being followed?_ She thought to herself. _What harm would it be to spend a day with Simon? _She made a face at the recklessness of that thought. _Of course I'm being followed. If not for any other reason than to make sure Thompson doesn't follow me here. What Simon did today was stupid, monumentally stupid. He's jeopardized his freedom, mine, Claude's._ Ava glared at the ceiling. _If he gets the three of us busted because he couldn't control himself, I'll kill him myself._

Finally, with a groan, Ava sat up and pulled her laptop from her luggage. _Thank God for hotel wi-fi._ She thought to herself with a smirk. Checking over her email, she noticed a new email from Eden. Opening it with a smile, she began to read.

_What's shaking in Espana, Missy? Everything's fine here. I'm still stuck in New York, trying to get Dr. Suresh to give up the list. Well, that's not exactly true. I've been back and forth between New York and Texas, actually. With you in "rehab", Bennet said he needs me to come back and forth to help take up the slack you left, you big slacker! I met Claire! She's a really fun kid, and she's got a very dry, wicked sense of humor, like her dad. You were right about Bennet. I thought he was a total asshole when we first met (given the circumstances, can you blame me?) but we've actually bonded. I think he misses having someone at work to talk to, since The Haitian is a man of absolutely zero words. Don't worry, you're still his Girl Friday, but I think he likes having me around all the same, even if it's so he can say "Ava doesn't file the paperwork THIS way" and "If Ava were here she'd probably say" . . . you know, if I didn't know better, I'd seriously think something kind of kinky was going on with the two of you. I said IF I didn't know better Missy, don't come back from Spain just to smack me around for insinuating anything. Actually, I take that back, if being a smartass brings you back here before November, come and beat me to a pulp. KIDDING! Anyway, when I'm in New York, Suresh and I are bonding too. He told me to start calling him "Papa Suresh", can you believe it! How funny is that? He's a pretty sweet old guy, actually. I think he misses having his family around. He has a son in India and, judging by the photo he has of him, that son is H-O-T! His name is Mohinder. I found that out when I brought Dr. Suresh a pet lizard and he named the lizard Mohinder as well. We're getting closer, so I figure I'll be able to dig into his research soon and hopefully alter that list before too long. Hell, I'm practically as close to him as Gabriel is now. _

_Speaking of tall, dark and dorky, something weird is going on with him. Remember how he was ALWAYS over at Dr. Suresh's place? I mean, he practically SLEPT over there. Well, I haven't hardly seen him at all in the last month. I thought maybe he was just coming around when I was working, or something, maybe he was avoiding me because I reminded him of you, maybe, but when I asked Dr. Suresh, he said he hadn't hardly seen Gabriel at all in the last month either. He seemed a little troubled about it, to tell you the truth. _

_And now to change the subject again, (yeah I know, I'm all over the place in this email, but I've been so busy, I haven't been able to say much more than "hi" in the last few) remember those murders you told me about? There have been more. That's one of the main reasons why I've been going to Texas every other week. Bennet has tasked me and the Haitian with investigating it. The murders have been pretty scattered all over the country, but the M.O. is always the same: the person is dead, the top of their skull is off and the brain is totally missing. It's seriously creeping me out. All of the people so far have been either tagged and bagged by The Company in the past, or they were on the "watch list". Noah wants us to start trying to keep an eye on a few people on the list to see if we can get ahead of this guy, but with so many people that have been tagged in the past or are on the list, it's kind of hard to figure out where the killer will strike next. It's frustrating as hell! We had a big meeting about it yesterday: Me, Bennet, the Haitian and Thompson. Yeah, I met Thompson. How in the HELL did you take that freak banging you for years without puking all over him? He was seriously gross! Oh, and he tried to get me alone, but I was a wily little coyote and made sure that I always had someone with me whenever he tried to talk to me, so I made you proud, "Sis". I think he was starting to get a wee bit frustrated, but I don't care. If he DOES get me alone, I'll just put my "whammy" on him and make him cluck like a chicken or something. _

_So anyway, that's what's going on here. November cannot come soon enough, let me tell you! I miss you like crazy and I could use some help catching this killer. Everyone around here is getting pretty antsy about getting him put away for good._

_Talk to you later! Have fun in Spain and if you meet a muy sexy Bullfighter, send him to me when you get tired of him!_

_Eden_

Ava closed the email, frowning as her mind swirled with everything she'd read. Eden had met Claire. Ava grimaced as she felt a twinge of jealousy. She'd never met Bennet's family. She and Bennet had always thought that keeping his work and private lives separate was for the best. She'd always felt as if she'd known every one of them, but had never had the pleasure of meeting any of them, even though she'd always longed to. Standing up and stretching, she walked to the window of her hotel room as she thought of Eden in Texas, meeting Bennet's family and being tasked to find the killer that had come to their attention just before she'd been sent to Spain. She worried about the safety of the other people out there in the world, people with powers like hers, who were sitting ducks for a madman on the loose. She found herself worrying most of all about Eden, Claire and Claude, wondering if they would be safe from this killer. Her mind turned to Eden's mission with Suresh and found herself wondering about Gabriel. Why had he suddenly disappeared? Was Eden right? Was he avoiding Eden and Suresh because of her? Their last meeting had been good and hopeful, so she found herself doubting it. She found herself wondering if he was alright. Hoping he was okay, she opened the window to her hotel room and leaned against the window jamb, sighing softly as soft breezes entered the room. She thought back to their last meeting and smiled to herself, remembering the way he'd kissed her. _Every guy should kiss like that._ She thought to herself. Shaking her head, she pulled herself from her reverie as she thought again about Eden's email. Gabriel was barely seen anymore and there was a killer loose, a killer going after specials. She wondered again why he had been spending so much time with Dr. Suresh. Did he have a special power too? Was he on Suresh's list? Was he in danger of being attacked as well? She found herself wishing she'd remembered to ask for his phone number or email address before she'd left and mentally kicked herself for not getting that information before. Her mind drifted again to their last meeting. _He rattled me so much with that kiss, I forgot to ask how to get in touch with him._ She frowned again. _What is WRONG with me, sitting here musing over that kiss like some stupid schoolgirl? I'm just lonely, that's all. Lonely and horny. _She laughed to herself as she thought about Eden's closing line. _Girl, if I could find a sexy bullfighter, there probably wouldn't be much left of him to send to her by the time I'm done. The last time I had sex, GOOD SEX, it was with-_ her frown deepened. _I wonder if I COULD get away with it, one last time. _She scanned the sidewalk outside of her apartment and smirked as she noticed a familiar figure walking up and down the sidewalk on the other side of the street. _God, could he BE more obvious? How in the hell has he stayed hidden this long? Fine, I'll give him what he wants tonight. Hell, I need it too._ She rolled her eyes as she closed the window and grabbed a tee-shirt and jeans, changing out of her pajamas. She grabbed a newsboy cap out of her suitcase and stuffed it on her head before heading out of her hotel room.

She made her way out of the hotel and quickly crossed the street. As she passed by Simon, she elbowed him. "Start walking, get ahead of me and I'll follow you back to your place. Pretend you don't know me until then, unless you want to end up captured again." She muttered.

"Absolutely." Simon whispered. She stopped at a store window and looked into it, pretending to study the clothes on display as Simon began to walk down the street. When he was half a block away, she turned and began to follow him. After a couple of blocks, she saw him turn and walk into an apartment building. She paused for a moment, allowing him to enter before she followed him inside. As soon as she entered the building, she gasped as he grabbed her by the waist and spun her around, kissing her passionately.

"I've missed you so." He murmured, as his lips traveled down her neck.

"Just so you know, this is just one night." She closed her eyes as she kissed him back. "You know I don't love you, you know this cannot continue after tonight, I just needed a release."

"Whatever gets you in my bed tonight, Querida." Simon whispered as he pulled her with him to an apartment and opened the door, pulling her inside with him.

July 3, 2007

"I'm so tired, you can probably push me pretty easily today." Ava stretched as she sat at a table across from Matt.

"That's a relief." Matt nodded. "You've been a tough nut to crack during our other practices." He took a deep breath and concentrated on Ava for a moment, then pointed to the bottle of wine in front of her. "Pour me a glass of wine."

Ava shook her head. "Nope. Try harder."

Matt groaned. "You're not the only tired one, Ava."

"No shit." She mumbled. "Try doing it without speaking. Use your mind to push me."

"Fine." Matt rubbed his eyes, then concentrated on Ava. _Pour me a glass of wine._ He frowned as Ava stared at him, her eyebrow cocked. "Dammit." He glanced up at Sylar walked in. "Hey."

"Hey." Sylar looked at Ava and Matt and at the bottle of wine between them. "Still trying your Jedi mind-trick on Ava?"

"Trying being the right word." Matt smirked. "Not succeeding is the other right word." He glanced over at Sylar again, watching as he walked over to the refrigerator and concentrated. _Pour me a glass of wine._

Sylar stopped, his hand on the handle of the refrigerator door. He turned quickly and walked over to the table, quickly pouring Matt a glass of wine. "Here Man, you looked thirsty."

"Thank you, Sylar." Matt chuckled and raised his glass to Ava. "To your boyfriend, may he always continue to be more weak-minded than you are."

"Smart-ass." Ava smirked. "He's never had training to block you, he's easy to push. If you can push me, you might be able to push Kane, so keep working on me."

"I will." Matt drained his glass. "Just as soon as I get Elle to come in here and feed me grapes." He chucked again as he set his wine glass down.

As he pulled food out of the refrigerator, Sylar turned to Matt, frowning. "Wait a minute, what did you just make me do?"

"Nothing you can't look me in the eye for later." Matt laughed. "And nothing less than you deserved."

"Jackass." Sylar muttered. He finished putting together his meal and grabbed his plate, turning to Ava. "See you in our bedroom later?"

"Absolutely." Ava winked at him as he walked out of the room. She turned back to Matt. "Okay, keep pushing at me."

"Fine." Matt closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. _Pour me a glass of wine._ He frowned as he felt something give and stared at Ava, watching the way her eyes glazed over. He smiled to himself as she reached for the wine bottle and poured a glass of wine, handing it to her. "Damn." He whispered.

Ava blinked, her dazed expression fading as she stared at the glass of wine. "Good job, Matt!"

"Yeah, with a little more practice, maybe I'll be able to keep you safe, soon." Matt glanced over his shoulder at the door. "Keep you from leaping any barriers like a damned fool?"

"Maybe so." Ava's eyes flickered towards the door as she placed a finger to her lips. "No talking about that, though."

"No problem." Matt nodded. He sipped his wine. "Peter and I took a side trip after CPR practice today. We said we were going to see the baby. We did, and he's still stunning, but that wasn't the only reason." His eyes met Ava's. "The Haitian's in."

Ava nodded softly. "He knows what to do if-"

"-He's down with it." Matt studied his glass for a moment. "Think it'll work?"

"It had better." Ava frowned. "Kaito said he's already turned a few of the members to get them to change their votes."

"Really?" Matt smiled. "That's good. If that works and our plan works, then even if-" He frowned at Ava's widened eyes and nodded "-he's saved either way."

"That's the plan." Ava slumped in her seat. "Four more days."

"Less than that, depending on what time of day he shows up."

"Yeah." Ava nodded. "We're ready though, right?"

"I think so." Matt shrugged. "You can stuff up with your mind with your psionic bullets. Sylar can slash anything with his powers, Peter's boning up on his arsenal, Claire's become quite the tough little girl in a fight-she certain kicked Elle's ass in combat practice yesterday, Elle's coming along nicely as well with combat and she's honing her power to create lightning bolts instead of just random electricity, Hiro's getting even deadlier with his sword than I even thought possible, Candice has been tweaking her illusions to hopefully confuse Kane enough to allow us to get a few whacks in while he's slashing at us and if I keep up practicing my mind control, I should be able to help confuse him as well." He set his wine glass down. "It's not going to happen the way we saw. It CAN'T happen. We've been forewarned."

"Some of us have been, anyway." Ava shivered for a moment and then stood up. "It's getting late."

Matt checked his watch and nodded. "Yeah. We've got more combat training tomorrow." He smirked. "While everyone else is setting off fireworks and celebrating the Fourth, we'll be training in our combat gear to make sure we can fight with helmets and armor."

"Maybe we can all teleport somewhere and shoot off fireworks too, at least for a little while."

Matt smiled. "That would be nice. We need to do it somewhere warm."

"Definitely." Ava leaned down and gave Matt a peck on the cheek before heading towards the kitchen door. "I'm going to my room, give my guy some lovin' and crash until morning."

"Sleep tight." Matt stood slowly and walked to the sink. As he rinsed out his wine glass, he heard the door open softly. "Forget the rest of the bottle?" He turned, grinning. His grin faded when he spotted Angela leaning in the doorway. "Hey."

"Hello." Angela raised an eyebrow. "You and I need to have a talk."

Matt smiled innocently as he set the glass on a rack to dry. "What about?"

Angela walked over to him and gently touched his arm, stroking it as Matt's innocent smile relaxed into a serene expression. "The soundproofed room. I don't think we should be overheard, do you?"

"Okay." Matt whispered. He turned with Angela and followed her out of the kitchen, trailing behind her as she showed him to the soundproofed room. As she closed the door behind them, he smiled at her. "What do you want to know?"

Angela's eyes narrowed as she reached out and began to stroke his arm again. "Tell me what you and your friends are planning to save Sylar."

August 13, 2006

"OH GOD!" Ava shrieked as Simon collapsed on top of her, both of them trembling. She panted as he rolled off of her. "I forgot how much I enjoyed having consensual sex."

"I take it Thompson has continued his assaults on you?"

Ava smirked. "Not lately." She stretched as she rolled over onto her stomach, letting Simon trace her spine with his fingertips. "Mr. Linderman finally dropped the hammer on the asshole and let him know that he knew about the attacks. When Thompson continued to threaten me, I sent a copy of the same DVD I gave Linderman to his wife. She saw enough of it to think he's been having an affair, but not enough to see that he's actually a sick, perverted little fucker."

"I'm sure he didn't take that too terribly well." Simon mused.

"Why do you think I'm here in Spain?" Ava shrugged as she started to doze. "I was in New York and he showed up to threaten me. I told him off, and threatened to kill him if he ever came near me again. He made the mistake of pulling THAT shit while Linderman was in town as well, so I let him know what was going on. He gave Thompson a dressing-down and sent me here to keep me safe."

"Why not just let you kill him now?" Simon asked.

Ava yawned. "Thompson is needed for a project. Once that project is finished soon, he's mine to dispose of."

"What KIND of project?"

Ava opened her eyes, staring at Simon. "What's it to you? You're not with The Company anymore, so why do you care?"

Simon shrugged as he stretched out beside her. "Just making small talk. I'm surprised Linderman has allowed Thompson to get away with his abuses for as long as he has."

Ava watched Simon warily for a moment and then closed her eyes again. "He's just putting up with him until he outlives his usefulness and that will happen VERY soon."

"How soon?"

Ava opened her eyes at Simon, glaring at him. "Soon enough. Stop asking questions and go to sleep."

Simon smiled at her as he leaned over and kissed her shoulder. "I will sleep, for now. You sleep too, we've got quite a bit more 'catching up' to do."

July 3, 2007

"So THIS is your plan to neutralize Sylar if Ava is killed?" Angela asked Matt, her eyes wide.

"Yep." Matt nodded slowly.

Angela crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned against the wall. "It just might work." She watched at Matt's vacant smile slowly faded until he looked around, blinking. "Yes, you blabbed."

"What?" Matt glared at Angela. "To hell with ME trying to mess with Kane's mind, we should just throw YOU at him!"

"Oh, don't be silly." Angela studied her fingernails, frowning. "I would need to actually get close enough to touch him to be able to put my little 'whammy' on him. Good lord, I need a manicure."

"I cannot believe-"

"-What?" Angela looked Matt in the eye. "That I would use my powers to find out when people are plotting against me? I figured something was up with all of these sneaky little visits to this room without me. At first I thought all of you were discussing the scroll, until I got an email from a friend of mine today stating that Kaito had called her. He's been talking to all of the board members lately, trying to convince everyone to spare Sylar's life after the battle. He's changed most of the votes, too."

"Good." Matt nodded.

"You're forgetting something." Angela raised an eyebrow as Matt stared at her. "I still have not only MY vote, but Arthur's as well. I also inherited Daniel's vote. Bob has his vote and he also has your father's proxy. So far that's five out of twelve votes to kill, if I still WANT Sylar dead when this is over."

"That's enough to vote majority rule."

"Maybe, but it would be a tight vote. The other shareholders could change their minds again if Bob and I both try to convince them. Bob alone could possibly sway their votes if he threatened to stop providing for the company financially with his little gift."

"Peter has that power now. He could bankroll everyone if they voted to spare Sylar."

"Possibly." Angela mused.

"And the other shareholders? Who HAS voted to spare Sylar?" Matt muttered.

Angela sighed. "Charles' sister Gwen voted originally to spare Sylar. She hasn't changed her vote. Kaito has convinced Clark Burnes and Julia Haviland to change their votes." She noticed Matt's frown. "Clark and Julia were both members of our little group back in the day-"

"-What are their powers?"

"Clark could alter weather and Julia could manipulate water. They helped stop a storm that threatened the East Coast many years ago. Victoria had already voted to spare him during the first vote." Angela laughed softly. "I figured whichever way Bob voted, Victoria would vote the other way. They've always hated each other."

"Which leaves the last two." Matt murmured.

"Antonio Galvez and Magnus Sampinos. Antonio and Magnus originally voted to kill. According to the email I received, Kaito has convinced them to spare Sylar as well, for now." Angela shrugged. "They always tend to waffle. Antonio has super-strength, much like Niki, and Magnus has super-speed. He can break the sound barrier simply by running. It was always a remarkable power, actually."

"Sounds like it." Matt sighed. "So what you're saying is, if you vote to kill Sylar and Bob votes-"

"-There are a couple of members at the very least who could change their votes from spare Sylar to kill Sylar yet again at the last minute."

"So stop jerking me around, Angela. Are you going to spare Sylar or not?" Matt asked her.

Angela glared at Matt. "I still cannot forget the pain he caused my family. He attacked my granddaughter and my youngest son. He killed Peter, albeit only temporarily, thank goodness. I cannot forget that moment of pure, blinding pain that I felt when Mohinder brought Peter's body to me, knowing that Sylar had done that. I cannot forget how my heart broke, feeling like my world was ending and that a light in my life had been snuffed."

"Peter was given a second chance, thanks to Claire's power. With his second chance, he's given Sylar one as well. Doesn't it mean ANYTHING to you that Peter is one of the main people spearheading the campaign to SPARE Sylar's life?"

"It does." Angela sighed. "Peter is a young man and he's still full of hope and promise. I see how forgiving he is and I see how he's embraced Sylar as a brother, but every time I try to see past Sylar's previous crimes and see the man he's become, I still remember Peter lying on my couch with a shard of glass in his skull, dead." Angela closed her eyes. "I WANT to be as good as Peter. I WANT to be as forgiving and hopeful as he is."

"So . . ."

"So I don't know." Angela shook her head, opening her eyes and blinking back tears. "I'll watch Sylar more these next few days that we have left. I'll watch how he performs in the battle. I'll make my final decision after that." She held up a hand as Matt began to speak. "Don't ask anything more from me now. The only thing that I can promise you and your friends right now is that I'll reserve judgment-for now."

"Fine." Matt nodded. "Mind not letting Sylar know about our little plan to-"

"-Please." Angela rolled her eyes. "I'm not a COMPLETE idiot! If I did that, I'd have to explain those damned scrolls and the fact that his girl is destined to almost certainly die."

"Thanks." Matt sighed. "I think this discussion should just stay between us for now."

Angela smirked. "Don't want your little friends out there to know that the mind puppeteer can be made a puppet as well?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Matt nodded again.

"Done." Angela opened the door and swept out of the room as Matt leaned against a table.

"I can't decide if we've become totally screwed, or if we might actually have a chance to save that lunatic." He whispered to himself.

August 13, 2006

"Run away with me." Simon murmured as Ava lay on top of him, both of them struggling to catch their breaths.

"You're kidding, right?"

Simon shook his head. "No. I'm not kidding." His eyes met Ava's as she lifted her head to stare at him. "Let's run away together."

"Why?" Ava made a face.

"Because I love you. I'm in love with you." Simon ran his fingers through her hair, smiling softly. "We can run away together and live a beautiful life."

"No fucking way." Ava rolled her eyes as she slid off of Simon and climbed out of the bed. Simon sat up, glaring at Ava as she pulled her clothes on.

"Why not?"

"Simon," Ava turned to him, shaking her head "I told you last night that this was a one-time thing. I've told you many, many times that I'm not in love with you-"

"-the day that I left, you said-"

"-you TOLD me to say it, even if it wasn't true. You KNEW it wasn't true!" Ava pulled on her shoes as Simon began to climb out of bed. "Running away with you would be the STUPIDEST thing I could EVER do!" She grabbed her cap and jammed it on her head. "It would be even stupider than coming here last night."

"Querida, wait-"

"-NO!" Ava whirled around on Simon, glaring at him. "It's been a great ride, Simon, it really has been, but this is ending, now."

"It can't." Simon shook his head. "I've spent my time here waiting for you, hoping that one day, we'd find each other again-"

"-we won't. We found each other one last time to have one last night and coming here with you wasn't fair to you, I see that now. I'm not the woman you think I am, I'm not the woman you want me to be. I don't love you the way you want me to and I never will. You've always been a good friend to me and I hope that, excluding last night, I've always been a good friend to you, but this has to end, now. If you want to stay free, stay away from me."

"And if I can't?" Simon looked at her mournfully.

"Then you're going to get caught by The Company again. You're going to get caught and brought back in. The best you'd be able to hope for would be forgiveness and a chance to continue working for us, and the worst you'd be able to hope for would be to die horribly, slowly and painfully, probably at my hands." She held up her hand as Simon took a step towards her. "Don't come closer. Don't come near me again. Don't try to find me again. Stay away from me from now on. I'm leaving this apartment, I'm leaving Madrid and I'm not coming back. Don't follow me back to the hotel and don't try to follow me when I leave or I'll be forced to call The Company myself. Get on with your life, Simon. Forget about me and move on." She grabbed her purse and quickly turned, walking out of the apartment as quickly as she could, refusing to look back to see if Simon was following her. As soon as she arrived at her hotel, she packed quickly and checked out even faster. She hailed a cab as soon as she stepped out of the hotel and made her way to the train station, getting the first ticket back to Barcelona. Within an hour, she was sitting on the train again, grimacing. "Never again." She muttered to herself.

July 4, 2007

Kane stared at the ceiling of the hotel room he'd been lucky enough to get after he arrived. It was one of the last ones left in the town. He smirked as he listened to the festivities outside. "As soon as all of this is over and all of the visitors go home, I'll start questioning the locals to see where Hiro and his friends are hiding out." He smiled to himself. "They'll never see me coming."


	43. Chapter 43: The Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 43: The Calm Before the Storm

October 12, 2006

Ava stepped out of the water onto the beach and made her way to the outdoor showers located nearby. She stepped under the water, rinsing the salt water out of her hair as she surveyed the scene. After her encounter with Simon in Madrid, she'd returned to Barcelona and returned to her usual routine of wandering Barcelona by day and wandering Linderman's villa by night. Finally, after nearly two months of self-imposed solitude, she decided to continue exploring Spain. She booked a flight to Majorca a few days earlier and arrived the day previously. After spending the first evening walking through the streets of the old city before crashing, exhausted in her hotel room that evening. The next morning, she decided to visit the beach and take a swim in the sea. The summer season had ended and even though the weather was still temperate in the 70's, the beach wasn't as crowded as she'd thought it would be. Wrapping a towel around herself as she stepped away from the shower, she shivered a bit as a breeze blew in from the sea. Looking again out at the water, she frowned as she noticed clouds quickly rolling in. She made her way over to the beach blanket she'd placed on the sand before swimming and gathered it, folding it into a tote bag along with her towel before pulling on a tee-shirt over her damp bikini. Sliding her feet into a pair of sandals, she made her way back to her hotel room.

As she entered the room, Ava's brow furrowed as her company cell phone began to ring in her tote bag. Since leaving New York, the two things she always took with her wherever she went were the cell phone The Company had given her and the cell phone she kept to contact Claude. Both phones had been silent since July. She pulled the ringing phone out of her bag. "This is Ava."

Bennet sat in his car, as muscle in his jaw twitching as he watched the Haitian place his hands on the forehead of a corpulent man in a wife-beater tee-shirt. His eyes narrowing with hateful contempt at the man, he took a deep breath. "How much longer until you can leave Spain?"

Ava's frown deepened as she noticed the tension in Bennet's voice. "November. They tell me I can come home by mid-November."

"Wish it were sooner."

"Why?" Ava's heart began to pound. _Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong._ She thought to herself. "Noah, what's going on?"

Bennet tore his eyes away from the bloated man as he sank to his knees under the Haitian's hands. "Eden's dead. She died yesterday."

Ava gasped as she felt her legs give way. Sliding down the wall of her hotel room in a heap, she closed her eyes, not noticing the way her hotel room quickly darkened as thunder began to rumble outside of her window. "How?" She croaked, fighting tears.

"Sylar."

"What?" Ava choked back a sob. "What? How? Why?" She started babbling more questions, stopping as Bennet began to speak.

"Sylar isn't his real name. It was a name he took. He was under Eden's nose in New York, he was under your nose too. When Eden caught him a few days ago, he had just attacked Claire-"

"-WHAT?" Ava sat up, her eyes widen. "Noah, is Claire-"

"-Claire's okay, thanks to Peter Petrelli."

"Peter Petrelli?" Ava blinked back tears, confused.

"Peter has a power as well." Noah took a deep breath. "This is a long story and I don't have a lot of time to tell it, so I'll give you the quick version. Peter can absorb powers from those around him. Isaac Mendez-"

"-the artist from New York." Ava whispered. "His artwork was featured in Simone Deveaux's gallery."

"Exactly. Isaac has a power as well. He can paint the future. A number of his paintings, when put in order showed a blond cheerleader being attacked. Peter figured out that she was in danger and did research to figure out where the cheerleader was. The cheerleader was Claire. A few weeks ago, Claire rescued a man from a train crash, pulled him out of a burning train car. The only thing the man knew was that he was rescued by a blond girl in a cheerleading uniform. Claire's friend Jackie took the credit for it and when Sylar read about the rescue, he thought Jackie was the girl with powers. He showed up during the homecoming game and attacked her. When Claire tried to intervene, he threw her against a wall with his telekinesis. It would have killed an ordinary girl, but Claire-" Noah trailed off for a moment.

"She survived."

"She survived and healed in front of him. That's when he realized he had just killed the wrong girl. She ran down the halls of the school and ran into Peter Petrelli. Apparently he absorbed her healing powers because he tackled Sylar and they fell to the courtyard of the school."

Ava's eyes widened. "From that balcony?"

"From that balcony. Because of Claire's powers, he was able to recover from the injuries he received. Sylar was injured and tried to run away. He ran straight into Eden and the Haitian. Between the two of them, they were able to subdue him."

"Wait." Ava shook her head. "If Eden was able to subdue Sylar, HOW did he end up killing her? How did she even know where to find him?"

"I'm getting to that." Noah gripped the steering wheel, steeling himself to continue telling the story. "We were able to get Isaac's paintings as well, and then we got Isaac. When I saw the paintings and realized Claire was in danger, I grounded her to keep her from going to the homecoming game, even though she'd been crowned homecoming queen. A friend of hers helped her sneak out of the house. I had Eden and the Haitian waiting at the game to catch Sylar. When I realized Claire had snuck out of the house, I went there as well to get her. Anyway, we've been keeping Sylar here to study him. We were planning on killing him afterwards, but Eden decided Sylar was too dangerous to keep alive, even for that long. I stepped out of the building for a while and Eden that opportunity to show up at his cell. We had him in the lockdown area, the maximum security lockdown. She had a gun-"

"-it was mine." Ava's chin quivered as a tear trickled down her cheek. "I gave it to her before I left. I told her to use it to protect herself from the killer, from Sylar."

"She put it in Sylar's food chute and tried to use her power to persuade him to kill himself. It didn't work. He fought the suggestion and instead used his telekinesis to pull her through the glass in his cell. She used the gun on herself-"

"-Oh God no." Ava began to sob. "She-"

"-She shot herself to keep Sylar from getting her power. She died a hero, Ava."

"What do you mean, 'getting her power'? What IS Sylar's power?"

"We don't know. Apparently, when he killed his victims, he took the brains to, I don't know, examine them or something and picked up their powers that way. He has many of them from what I can tell. He can freeze things, he has extra stealth, he killed Charlie at the Burnt Toast Diner and took her eidetic memory-"

"-He killed CHARLIE?" Ava shook her head. "Sweet, kind, never hurt a fucking fly CHARLIE?"

"Yeah, Ava. Eden killed herself, shot herself in the head to keep Sylar from using her brain, to keep him from gaining her power as well."

"Oh please tell me you still have that mother fucker." Ava snarled, her grief quickly turning to anger.

"We do. Like I said, he was under your nose and Eden's the whole time. Eden said you met him quite a few times, befriended him in New York. He was working with Dr. Suresh." Ava's heart began to pound. "His name is Gabriel Gray."

Ava gasped, her anger draining away with shock. "No."

"I'm afraid so."

Ava gulped for air, her head spinning. _Gabriel? Shy Gabriel who blushed every time he looked at her?_ She shook her head. "No, no, no. Tall guy? Dark hair and eyes?"

"It's him, Ava. Eden identified him."

Ava struggled for words, then quickly set the phone down and bolted for the bathroom. She barely made it to the toilet before she began to vomit. When she was sure her stomach was empty, she stumbled back into the bedroom and picked the phone off of the floor before collapsing onto the bed, her legs feeling as if they were made of rubber. "Sorry."

"It's okay."

Ava angrily swiped away the tears that continued to stream down her cheeks. "So what's next?"

"Next?" Noah sighed. "Next we keep him sedated, test him and then destroy him."

"Good." Ava nodded. "You want me to try and come back early?"

"No." Noah shook his head as he glanced over at the Haitian, noticing that he was standing outside of the car, leaning against the passenger door. "Stay in Spain, finish your therapy and come back whole and ready to return to the grind. I can handle it here."

Ava felt a pang of guilt as she looked around the luxurious hotel room she was staying in. "Yeah. I'll do that." She ran her fingers through her hair nervously. "So does Thompson know WHY Sylar went after Claire?"

"No. As far as he knows, Jackie was the one Sylar REALLY wanted to attack and Claire was able to get away from him. I spun a good yarn of bullshit about how lucky she was to escape unharmed."

"Good, good." Ava chewed on a fingernail. "Do you think he's starting to suspect anything about her?"

"I don't think so, not yet."

"Noah. I want you to do me a favor."

"Okay."

"Go to my apartment in Lubbock. Do it as soon as you can. Check my mail, okay? My mail comes through a slot in the door, so there should be a pile of it on my living room floor."

"Okay." Noah frowned. "Why?"

"There is a package that I mailed to myself from New York. It's addressed to me, but it's actually for you. Take that package and put it somewhere safe. DO NOT keep it in your home or in your office, okay?"

"Okay, I will."

"Do not open the package, I'm serious. If something happens to me or if Thompson gets unbearable, take the package and give it to Kaito Nakamura, do you understand?"

"I understand." Noah frowned. "What makes you think something's going to happen to you?"

"Do NOT open that package under any circumstances, do you understand? Take it to Kaito and tell him that I sent you to him for protection. If Thompson becomes a serious problem or if Claire manifests and Thompson starts throwing his weight around, take the package to Kaito."

"What have you got on Thompson?" Noah's frown deepened."

"I'm not telling you what's in the package or what it could do to Thompson, just promise me you'll take it to Kaito and that you won't open it under any circumstances. Will you do that?"

Noah sighed. "I will."

"Promise me you won't open that package, okay?"

"Fine, I will."

"PROMISE ME!"

Noah sighed again, more deeply this time. "I promise you that I will not open the package."

"Okay." Ava sighed. "Thanks for calling me about Eden."

"You're welcome. I knew you'd want to know."

"I did." Ava choked back another sob. "You know I love you like a brother, right?"

"I know."

"A brother, a father, an uncle, I fucking love you and your family. Keep yourselves safe."

"I will. I love you like family too, Ava. We'll be safe."

"If you get killed, I'll kick your ass. I mean it!"

Noah laughed softly. "How will you kick my ass if I'm already dead?"

"Oh, I'll find a way."

"I'm sure you will." Noah glanced over at the Haitian again. "I've gotta go."

"Take care." Ava hung up the phone and lay back on the bed, her body shaking with sobs as her mind whirled with the information she'd been given. Thunder crashed outside of the hotel as lightning briefly lit Ava's hotel room. Charlie was dead, sweet Charlie who was always at the diner. Eden was dead, her 'sister', her friend. Claire and Peter had been attacked and the man she'd kissed on her last day in New York, the seemingly shy and nebbish gentleman who'd invaded her thoughts and fantasies for the last three months was responsible. "How could I have been so blind and stupid?" She whispered to herself as she rolled over and buried her face in a pillow to muffle the sobs. Outside of her window, the rain began to fall hard and fast, fat raindrops splattering against the window.

Noah hung up his phone and knocked on the window. As the Haitian slipped into the car, he nodded towards the man they'd visited, watching as he sat on his front stoop, his expression dazed. "You do it?" The Haitian nodded wordlessly. "You took everything but the guilt?" The Haitian nodded again. "Good." He started his car. "He called her a whore. He called his own daughter a whore. Some people shouldn't be allowed to have children, I swear to God."

July 4, 2007

The team stretched out together on the floor of the gym, exhausted. "It's the Fourth of July," Candice muttered "we should be on a beach somewhere, getting sunburned, getting drunk, getting stuffed on junk food and waiting for fireworks to start."

"Amen." Niki nodded as she rubbed her stomach. "Except for the drunk part. I can't do that right now. I'd give anything to chill out for the Fourth. I'm so tired."

"How can you be as tired as we are?" Sylar rolled over onto his stomach from his back to look at Niki. "You haven't been doing any running or intensive training since the proverbial rabbit died."

"I'm not training because I'm growing a little human. Trust me, it's exhausting work. You burn more calories, you're constantly exhausted, you're constantly hungry and then you wear yourself out puking up toenails when you're not raiding the refrigerator looking for new and exciting food combinations." Niki raised an eyebrow at Sylar. "If you had to do it, you'd wuss out the first week."

"True." Sylar nodded as he stretched onto his back again. "I agree with you both. Niki, I would indeed be a wuss and Candice, I want to go and celebrate somewhere warm."

Peter lifted up his head. "Nathan and Heidi have the kids at the Hamptons house today. We could-"

"-WE could NOT!" Angela sat up. "Do you KNOW how crowded that beach is-"

"-we could teleport INTO the house and then show up on the beach-" Peter interrupted.

"-and explain to people that we got there HOW?" Angela snapped. "We took the Jitney?"

Peter rolled his eyes. "Like people are going to start grilling us about how we got there, GOD!"

Claire sat up. "You or Hiro could teleport to Tahiti and bring Mom and Lyle there too-"

"-And Janice and M.J." Matt nodded. "They got released from the hospital yesterday morning."

Peter grinned as everyone else began to sit up and smile at him. "All in favor of teleporting to the Hamptons for some sun, fun and fireworks?" Everyone but Angela raised their hands. He turned to his mother. "Looks like you're outvoted, Mom." He stood up and headed for the door. "I'm calling Nate and telling him to fire up the grill. We're raiding the galley and heading out to the Hamptons."

As everyone began to get up, suddenly rejuvenated at the idea of a break at the beach, Matt turned to Angela. "It sucks to be outvoted, doesn't it?"

Angela pursed her lips peevishly. "Normally I wouldn't respond to taunts in such an uncouth manner, but . . ." she raised her hand, flipping him off before storming out of the room as Matt smirked.

Sylar followed Ava to their quarters and watched as she began to dig through her clothes. "Trying to find something that's not thermal weave or stuffed with down?"

"We packed for cold weather." Ava frowned as she sat on the bed, giving up her search. "I wonder if Hiro or Peter would be especially annoyed if I ask them to run me by the farmhouse?" She frowned as Sylar looked away, grinning. "What?"

"My tee-shirt drawer, look under the long-sleeved tee-shirts."

Still frowning, Ava stood and walked over to Sylar's chest of drawers. She opened a drawer and began to dig through it, gasping as she pulled out a pair of denim shorts and a red bikini. "And you packed this, WHY?"

Sylar shrugged. "Well, I decided that even though we were coming to the friggin' Arctic-"

"-You'd what, try to get me to join the Polar Bear Club?" Ava stared at him.

"Noooo, I was planning on the two of us doing some late-night role-playing." Sylar shrugged again. "I wasn't planning on our room being so cold we'd have to spend all of our time dressed from head to toe in thermal clothing until we climbed into bed and pulled our clothes off under the covers." Sylar grinned. "Not that THAT doesn't have it's fun moments as well."

"When you packed this, we were still pretending that we were just friends with benefits." Ava smirked.

"And I was going to spice up the benefits, so sue me."

Ava laughed as she found a tote bag and tucked her clothes into it. "It would have been fun."

"It still can be tonight." Sylar winked at her. "You and me, slipping off from the group-" he frowned for a moment, suddenly remembering the picture he drew of the two of them entwined on a beach "-or we can just hang out with everyone and come back here afterwards and-" he wiggled his eyebrows seductively at her.

"-sounds like fun." Ava nodded. She stared at Sylar's heavy thermal clothes. "What about your clothes?"

"I've got a pair of khakis I can cut down into shorts and a tee-shirt I can wear over them. I'm good." Sylar went to his closet and pulled out the pants and shirt. He held his hand out to Ava. "So, ready to go?"

"Ready to enjoy warm weather and a mini-vacation? Definitely?" Ava took his hand and walked out of the room with him.

October 14, 2006

Ava stood on the deck of the cruise ship, staring out at the island of Majorca as it faded from view, returning her to the Spanish mainland. She'd spent the last two days sitting on the beach or sitting in her room, the events Noah had relayed to her replaying in her head repeatedly. It had been difficult to reconcile the Gabriel she'd known with the things he'd done as his alter ego, Sylar. She'd thought of every meeting they'd had in New York, turning these memories over in her mind as she examined and reexamined every word she'd remembered him saying, every action he took around her, trying to figure out if she'd missed something, anything that would have clued her in to the murderer behind the benign façade. She found herself frustrated that, no matter how many times she replayed their meetings in her head, she couldn't find a single moment that should have clued her in to what Gabriel had obviously been up to, even when he had been talking to her. She finally decided to pack up her things and return to Barcelona, now unable to enjoy the small vacation she'd taken on the Spanish island, reserving a ship to return her to the mainland so she could return to the villa by train.

"Hello again, Querida." Ava whirled around, her anger rising as she recognized the voice immediately.

"Simon." She snarled, glaring at the man as he stood in front of her. "What the fuck are you doing here? Are you FOLLOWING me?"

Simon stepped back for a moment, his eyes widening in surprise at her furious reaction. "Yes. I've been-"

"-How many times do I have to tell you to go away and leave me ALONE?" She hissed.

Simon stared at his feet, his expression turning sad. "I wanted to see you a final time, to try and convince you again to-"

"-to what, run away with you?" She rolled her eyes as Simon nodded silently. "You're starting to turn into a stalker, Simon. I've already told you that I'm not leaving, I'm not running away with you, so what the hell is your problem?"

"I have made friends, powerful friends." Simon lifted his eyes to meet Ava's. "They can help us escape, to be together-"

"-In exchange for WHAT?" Ava snarled.

"In exchange for your cooperation with them." As Ava's expression darkened, Simon continued. "They are enemies of Mr. Linderman-"

"-Russian enemies?" Ava asked, her eyes narrowing.

"From the former Iron Curtain, yes." Simon nodded again. "They-"

"-I killed some of their leaders a few years ago. Do you honestly think they're willing to forget something like that?"

"They're willing to overlook it in exchange for your cooperation. They've decided they'd rather have you as an ally than-"

"-you are a steaming, disgusting pile of shit." Ava backed away from Simon, shaking her head. "Claude and I busted our asses, risked our freedom to help you escape and you repay that by not only betraying Linderman and his company by joining with his enemies, but by expecting ME to do the same? Go to hell!"

"Linderman is using you, his colleagues are using you-"

"-they saved my LIFE!" Ava shook her head. "If it weren't for them, I'd be in a mental hospital in Oklahoma, or worse, I'd be dead. I'm not even going to DARE betray them, so if that's the only reason you're here, you can leave now."

"I love you. I want you to be with me." Simon pleaded.

"I don't love you." Ava glared as Simon slumped against a railing. "And if you truly loved me, you wouldn't ask me to run away with you. You wouldn't ask me to betray the people who have taken care of me since I was seventeen. You wouldn't ask me to turn my back on my entire life. You have my answer. I never want to see you again."

"They're watching you." Simon whispered. "They know you're staying at Linderman's villa in Barcelona. They know every move you make. If you don't come with me willingly, they'll try to take you by force or they'll try to take you out of the equation altogether."

"Oh really?" Ava snorted. "You've seen my power in action. Tell your new 'friends' that if they want to kidnap me or if they want to kill me, I say bring it on. Let's see how many of your new little buddies are left when I'm done with them. I'll feel them coming and I'll be waiting." Ava turned to walk away. "Tell them what happened to that army in the jungle, Simon. Tell them what I'll do to them in graphic detail and then ask them if they still want to attack me."

Simon watched her walk away sadly. After she rounded a corner, going to the other side of the ship, he pulled out his cell phone. "She's refused me. She's refused to betray Mr. Linderman and his organization. What do you want me to do now?"

Angela stood up from Peter's bedside, squeezing his hand as she studied his face, hoping for a sign that he was coming out of his comatose state. Glancing over at Nathan, she quietly walked to the bathroom and closed the door. Running the sink to prevent her voice from carrying into the hospital room, she took a deep breath. "She's refused to leave Linderman? She's refused to join us?" She asked, adopting a fake Russian accent.

"Yes, Madame. She told me to go to Hell. She told me that if you send people after her, she'll destroy them all." Simon looked around, making sure Ava wasn't in view. "She can do it, too. I've told you of her power before. I've told you what she's capable of. She'll know you're coming if you attack her, she'll kill anyone you send after her."

"Then we'll leave her alone for now. Thank you, Mr. Lopez. Thank you for everything. We'll talk later."

"You're welcome." Simon turned his phone off and sighed sadly as he headed back to his state room.

Angela hung up her phone, rolling her eyes. She dialed her phone again, smirking as Linderman answered the phone. "She refused Lopez again."

"Did she?" Linderman smiled as he sat back in his chair, flipping through a case file.

"She refused to leave with him and refused to betray you." Angela sighed. "Given this evidence as well as the fact that she not only refused to leave with him in Madrid AND refused to discuss what little she knew of our little project points to one thing. She's a company girl, through and through."

"That's good to know. Apparently, given the evidence that Lopez has given you in the past, it's obvious the main reason she helped him escape us before was because she wasn't ready to settle down and become a mother. That's understandable."

"I wouldn't want to settle down with that idiot either."

"He's not the brightest bulb on the Christmas Tree, but he's easily manipulated, obviously and his power is quite extraordinary. The idea of his DNA joining with hers and the end result would have been fantastic."

"You and your matchmaking." Angela muttered.

"It's worked in the past. I brought Hawkins and Sanders together, did I not? And look at the end result. Micah is an extraordinary young man and he will be quite useful in our little project, don't you think?"

"I suppose." Angela mused.

"How is Peter?"

Angela glanced at the bathroom door. "No better. His fever is still quite high, he's still comatose and the doctors are completely baffled as to what is wrong with him. I don't know if he's going to survive this."

"I hope he does recover soon." Linderman sighed. "You and your family are in my prayers, Angela."

"I seriously doubt YOU pray." Angela smirked.

"Oh, but I do." Linderman nodded as he continued to flip through the file. "So, as to Agent Reese, I think she'll continue to be quite the asset to our company, now that we know she's loyal."

"I agree." Angela nodded. "Thank God we have someone that powerful on our side."

"Indeed." Linderman smiled, glancing at photographs. "And just imagine, with the right man at her side, what kind of incredible progeny she could have. We just have to find the right person for her."

"Good luck." Angela muttered.

"What about Peter?" LInderman asked.

"You MUST be joking." Angela muttered. "She'd eat him alive! He's far too idealistic for someone as hardened as she is. That little viper would eat him alive."

"True. Nathan would be better suited for her." Linderman chuckled.

"I don't think so." Angela glared into the mirror, smoothing her hair. "The idea of her with either of my sons is enough to make my blood run cold. Don't even consider either of them in your ridiculous breeding program."

"Fine." Linderman shrugged. "It was just a thought."

"It was a STUPID thought." Angela hissed. "What about Lopez?"

"He'll be taken into custody by his new 'allies' after the ship lands in Barcelona and he'll be given a choice: reeducation or death."

"He'll choose reeducation. Rodents like him have a high sense of self-preservation."

"I agree." Linderman nodded. "Take care of yourself and I truly hope Peter recovers soon."

"Thank you." Angela hung up her phone and reentered Peter's hospital room, taking a seat beside his bed and taking his hand in hers. "Please wake up, Peter." She whispered softly.

In his office, Linderman continued to study the case file. "Sylar AKA Gabriel Gray." He studied photos of Ava taken in New York with a telephoto lens, noticing how Gabriel lurked in the background in many of the photos, his eyes on Ava. He smiled to himself as he found the photo he was looking for, one of the two of them kissing beside a taxi. He set the file to the side and pulled out another, studying photos of Kane throughout the years. "What a murderous little bastard." He muttered. Studying an ancient piece of paper, he studied the translation, reading aloud. "Eight will stand against him, one with power to match his with a heart as dark as the eclipse, who will give his heart to one with hair like fire whose darkness with match his own." Picking up the photo of Gabriel and Ava again, he frowned. "So are you the one the eight will stand up against, or are you the one who will help lead them to victory? I wonder if Agent Lopez is the only one who can be reeducated." He mused to himself.

July 4, 2007

"Interesting party." Nathan mused to Peter as they stood on the deck, grilling hamburgers and watching Peter's teammates as they hung out together on the beach. "It's great seeing Hiro again and you know Claire and Niki are always welcome, but would you mind telling me why in the hell Sylar is here?"

"I didn't think it would be a good idea to leave him at the compound alone. Besides, he's actually a pretty cool guy."

Nathan choked on his beer and turned to stare at Peter in shock. "He killed you."

"It didn't take."

"He attacked Claire, tried to kill her, killed Hiro's girlfriend, repeatedly attacked Mohinder, tried to friggin' blow up New York-"

"-that was more Mom's plan actually, and you went along with it for a while, if I recall-"

"-not to mention the fact that he fucking KILLED you! Yeah, bringing him here to celebrate a holiday with the family sounds reasonable after that."

"First of all, he didn't know me then, we've become friends, sort of, in the last few months and we're getting along fine now."

"Right. Here's an idea, invite him to the wedding when you marry Niki and ask him to be the little Nipper's godfather."

"I've thought about it, actually." Peter shook his head at Nathan's horrified expression. "Not the godfather part, that's yours-"

"-thank you-"

"-but he might be a fun usher at the wedding, if we decide to get married. You're the best man, of course, but I've been thinking that Sylar, Hiro, Mohinder, Ando and Matt would be cool ushers."

"Uh-huh." Nathan smirked. "Instead of asking 'Bride or Groom' he'll be asking 'special or not special' and the special side will suddenly disappear before the reception."

"He's behaved himself for the last couple of months." Peter looked at Nathan earnestly. "He's trying to change, Nathan. I have to trust him, I DO trust him. Just trust that I trust him, okay?"

"Fine, but the first time he starts giving that creepy smirk and raises either his eyebrows or his finger, I'm flying him off to the Great Barrier Reef and dumping him in the middle of a shark frenzy." Nathan stared at Peter. "What do you mean 'IF we decide to get married.'?"

Sylar stretched out on a blanket on the beach, watching lasciviously as Ava stepped out of the water and lay beside him on the blanket. "Have I mentioned how much I loved Peter's decision to take a break today?"

"You've said it every five minutes since I put this bikini on." Ava rolled over onto her stomach, smiling as she watched Micah and Molly run around the beach with Simon and Monty, throwing a beach ball back and forth. She turned her head and watched Niki as she sat with Janice, cooing over the newborn M.J.

"What are you looking at?" Sylar followed Ava's gaze. "Niki's starting to show."

"I know." Ava blinked back the tears that suddenly sprang into her eyes. "This time next year, M.J. is going to be trying to walk and Niki's going to have a little baby of her own."

"Maybe we'll be starting on one too." Sylar shrugged as he glanced over at Ava. "I could give up ogling you in a bikini if it meant you had a little baby bulge."

"Oh really?" Ava studied her hands as she began to trail her fingers in the sand.

"Yeah, but you'd have to get that pre-baby body back ASAP. Daddy needs his eye candy." Sylar started laughing as Ava glared at him. "I'M KIDDING!"

"You'd better be." Ava looked away, then started laughing softly. "I'd suck as a mother."

"I don't think so. You'd be a better parent than I would be." Sylar shook his head.

"I doubt that." Ava shrugged. "You're good with Mac."

"Dogs and kids are totally different."

"Not really, actually. They're both impulsive, they cause messes and you have to teach them to behave or else they destroy the house. And if you don't teach them to be social-"

"-they turn out like me." Ava turned and studied Sylar's face as he sat up and stared out at the ocean. "Anti-social nuts who attack at the first provocation, who rely on power and their mental or physical prowess to keep others at arm's length."

"You're changing."

"I'm trying." Sylar glanced over his shoulder to glance up at Nathan on the deck, grilling burgers with Peter. "But there will always be people who won't trust me. Nathan and Peter just argued about me."

"Then prove the ones who don't trust you wrong. Show them you've changed."

"I guess. It's hard to do though."

"Nothing worth having is ever easy. Trust, friendship, love, it's worth having."

"It is." Sylar stretched back out on the blanket beside Ava. "Okay, get up, get back into the water and then run back to me, only this time do it in slow motion and toss your hair around."

"I don't think so. I don't feel like giving you a personal 'Babewatch' moment." Ava stood up, brushing off sand. "I'm getting a beer, want one?"

"I suppose." Sylar watched as Ava began to walk towards the house. "Can you at least RUN in slow motion for that?" He laughed as Ava rolled her eyes and walked away.

After the sun went down, everyone settled on blankets to eat dinner and wait for the fireworks. Heidi leaned against Nathan. "Everyone looks happy. Even Angela decided to stop sulking in the living room and come out for dinner."

"She needed something to soak up the dozen cocktails she downed. She must have been even more pissed than usual that she was outvoted to come here." Nathan rolled his eyes. "It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside that she'd rather freeze her ass off in a compound in Alaska than spend a holiday with us."

"She's just pouting, that's all. You know how much of a control freak she is. If she'd come up with the idea to come, she wouldn't be behaving this way."

"I suppose." Nathan looked around. "Where are the boys?"

Heidi glanced over her shoulder to the house. "On the deck with Micah and Molly. They wanted to watch the fireworks from there."

"Okay." Nathan turned to look over at his boys on the deck and started, suddenly standing up. "Hey!" He pointed to Monty as the boy tried to stand on the railing of the deck. "Monty! Get down from there before you fall!" Monty sighed and climbed down, sitting back down in a deck chair. "Damn kid's gonna get himself killed doing that." He muttered. "It's at least a twenty-foot drop to the ground from that height."

"The fireworks are starting!" Heidi yelled, clapping her hands.

Nathan turned back to the water and smiled as fireworks began to go off above the ocean. His smile faded as he noticed Sylar, who had been sitting ten feet in front of him suddenly stood and turned around, raising his hand. "WHAT THE FUCK?" As he charged towards Sylar, everyone turned to watch them, quickly getting up to try and get between the two to stop the impending fight. Nathan saw Sylar's right hand twitch as he raised his left and felt himself frozen in his tracks. _This is how it happens. This is what he does before he kills his victims._ He thought to himself, then felt himself being turned around to face the house. His eyes widened as he spotted Monty, hovering in mid-air, gently being lowered to the ground below. As Monty's feet touched the ground, Nathan felt Sylar's grip on his body release as understanding dawned on him. He turned back to Sylar as Mohinder reached him first, tackling him to the ground. "WAIT!" Nathan ran to the group, pulling Mohinder off and helping Sylar up, holding his hand out to keep the others away. "He wasn't-" he shook his head and nodded to Monty as he ran to his mother, crying. "Monty fell off of the deck."

"I heard Simon telling him to get down." Sylar said quietly as fireworks burst overhead. "I turned my head just as Monty screamed. I caught him, kept him from falling."

"Like you did me at the hotel." Claude nodded before clapping Sylar on the back. "Good reflexes, Mate!"

"Thanks." Sylar turned to glare at Mohinder. "I know I've done some really shitty things, but I've been trying to change and get you to trust me. I knew none of you ever would." He turned and stomped away, stalking down the beach with his head down, his hands balled into fists.

"Nice." Ava glared at everyone as she turned and chased after Sylar.

Peter glanced over at Angela as she stared at Sylar's retreating back. "The man who you've been plotting to kill just saved your grandson. Feels good, doesn't it?" Angela looked away, her expression unreadable as she turned and walked over to Heidi and Monty, kneeling in front of him to check him for injuries.

Ava ran down the beach after Sylar. As they rounded a corner away from the house, she caught up with him and grabbed his arm. "Stop and look at me!"

"Why do I bother, huh? Why do I bother trying to be a good guy?" Sylar stopped and began pacing in front of Ava, shaking her hand off of his arm. "Why should I bother?"

"You saved a boy's life tonight."

"Yeah, saved him from falling onto sand. He probably wouldn't have died."

"True, but he would have been pretty banged up. You saved him from that." Ava stepped in front of Sylar, stopping his pacing and took his face in his hands. "I love you. You're a good guy, Sylar. You said earlier that you thought you'd be a bad father, but you proved tonight, that you'd be wonderful. You protected the child of a man who didn't trust you, who didn't want you here. You wouldn't have done that nine months ago. You ARE a good guy, Sylar. You're a good man."

"I want to be."

"You are. You're not the guy you were nine months ago. You're not the guy you were a year ago. Even before you became 'Sylar' you were a recluse. You kept yourself away from people. Your only friend was Chandra Suresh and you spent your days stalking me." As Sylar stared at her, stunned, Ava grinned. "I'm an agent, you don't think I can't tell when someone's tailing me? You followed me for weeks. I could feel you. I sensed your emotions. You were trying very hard to work up the nerve to ask me out."

"So why didn't you call me on it?"

"I figured if I confronted you, you'd freak out and run off. I wanted to give you the chance to man up and do it yourself, and you did."

"Yeah. As you were leaving for Spain. And then I spent the next few months being a psycho killer."

"What I'm trying to tell you is that you have friends now. Peter, Matt, Claude, Niki, Claire, Noah, Candice, Kaito, Ando, Elle and even Hiro are all trying to keep you alive after we fight Kane. Would they do that for someone they didn't like or forgive? Would they do that for someone they didn't consider a friend?"

"They don't consider me a friend." Sylar muttered.

"Yeah, we do." Ava and Sylar turned to see Peter walking over to him with Nathan. "And I think you just made another one."

Nathan stepped forward, holding out his hand. "Thank you." As Peter cleared his throat, Nathan rolled his eyes. "Peter was right about you. I was wrong."

Sylar stared at Nathan, stunned. "You're welcome." He slowly reached out and shook Nathan's hand.

"Listen. I know Mom's trying to pull some shit on you. Peter filled me in earlier. You have my support, for whatever it's worth."

"Thanks." Sylar let go of Nathan's hand and stared at the ground. "How's Monty?"

"Scared, but okay. Mom and Heidi are fussing over him at the house. Everyone else is standing around, watching Candice scream at Mohinder. As we were leaving she was calling him a 'massive tool'."

Sylar laughed softly. "No Candy for Mo tonight."

Nathan laughed with him. "I don't think so." He clapped Sylar on the back. "Come on. There's still a ton of beer left and more fireworks to watch, both out over the water and between Candice and Mohinder. Let's go get drunk and laugh as he runs around and begs for forgiveness, what do you say?"

"I guess." Sylar glanced over at Ava as they began to walk back to the house. As they reached the house, everyone except Mohinder turned and began to clap and whistle as they spotted Sylar. Sylar's eyes widened as Claire walked over to him and gave him a quick hug. "What was that for?" He asked.

Claire stepped away from him. "Thanks. We're cool, right?"

"I don't know. I probably need to save your entire family in order for that to happen."

Claire grinned. "My kid brother's a start."

She turned and walked away as others came forward to hug Sylar and congratulate him on his reflexes. He quietly accepted the attention before joining Ava back on their blanket. "This is kind of unreal." He whispered to her.

Ava leaned against him, placing her head on his shoulder. "They're your friends now, get used to it." She looked up at him playfully. "Told you so."

Sylar chuckled as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Oh shut up and watch the fireworks." He glanced over at Mohinder as he sat on his own blanket, cringing under the heat of Candice's glare as she sat with Niki. As Mohinder lifted his head, his eyes met Sylar's. Sylar nodded slightly to him before looking away, not noticing the way Mohinder nodded back, his expression filled with conflict.


End file.
